The rapid growth of AI image- and video-generation models has allowed users to create profiles with photorealistic AI characters and made it difficult for others to guess whether they’re interacting with a real human. Instagram is now pushing back against that trend.
The Meta-owned platform on Monday announced a new “AI-generated profile” label for accounts that feature AI-generated people. The new label replaces the “AI creator” label, and creators must add it manually to their profiles to avoid losing their reach, Instagram said in a blog post.
Users who already have the AI creator label will be automatically transitioned to the new label. It will appear on their profile as well as content to signal to people that their “profile’s identity is AI-generated and not a real human,” Instagram said in a separate post.
While the label isn’t mandatory for AI profiles, Instagram will be on the lookout for such accounts. If the company’s systems detect an unlabelled AI profile, it may stop their content from appearing in recommendations and notify them about the restriction via Account Status. AI accounts can regain reach by adding the new label. Additionally, if an account is incorrectly flagged by Instagram, its owner can appeal the decision and regain reach if the appeal is successful.
Notably, the label is only meant for AI profiles. “Creators who simply use AI tools as part of their creative process don’t need to add the label,” Instagram adds.
As reported by TechCrunch, the move comes after* The New York Times found hundreds of AI doctors promoting supplements, and Wired *found AI influencers promoting a gay dating app on social media earlier this year, featuring men that didn't actually exist.
“As generative AI becomes a bigger part of how people create, we’ve heard that people don’t like seeing a profile that seems human, only to find out later that the person featured is AI-generated,” Instagram says. “They want to know when a profile features an AI-generated person.”