Meta rolls out Muse Image AI on Instagram and WhatsApp

Meta launched its first in-house AI image generation model, Muse Image, on Tuesday, integrating the technology directly into its widely used Instagram and WhatsApp platforms. The rollout marks a significant step in the company's strategy to bring core artificial intelligence capabilities under its own control after relying on external vendors.

Developed by Meta Superintelligence Labs, the new model allows users to create and edit images through conversational text prompts, sketches, or uploaded photos. It powers more than 30 new AI-powered visual effects for Instagram Stories and enables image generation within direct chats with the Meta AI assistant on WhatsApp. The feature is launching in a limited number of countries, with a broader expansion to Facebook, Messenger, and more regions planned for the coming weeks and months.

A central and immediately controversial feature allows users to generate images incorporating the likeness of people with public Instagram profiles. By tagging a username in a prompt, the system can pull from that account's public photos to create new AI imagery. This capability is enabled by default for public accounts, and the company states users will...