Muse Image Instagram AI Feature Removed in 3 Days

Meta AI on Instagram: what the Muse Image @-mention feature did

Meta announced Muse Image on July 7, 2026, and the feature it promoted let a person generate images by @-mentioning a public Instagram account to reference. Muse Image is an image generation model from Meta, the company that runs Instagram. An @-mention is the tag you type with an @ sign in front of an account name, and here it told the tool whose public photos to use as a reference for a new picture.

In practice, a user could name a public account in a prompt and ask for a new image built on that account's photos. The feature drew only on public accounts, according to TechCrunch. Meta removed it on July 10 (US time) and announced the removal by updating the original launch blog post.

Public Instagram photos as AI references: opted in by default

All public Instagram profiles were opted in automatically, so an account owner had to do nothing for their photos to become eligible as references. Yahoo Tech reported this default for the new AI model. "Opted in" means the setting was on from the start.

The feature was also not designed to alert a user if their photos were used this way, according to TechCrunch's report. The same report describes the reaction as "immediate backlash".

Instagram AI opt out: the two ways to keep photos out of Meta AI

Yahoo Tech reported only two ways to keep public photos from being used as references: follow the instructions to opt the profile out, or make the profile private. Anyone who wanted out had to take one of those steps themselves, because the default pointed the other way. Forbes ran a how-to on opting out of Muse Image on July 10, and Bitdefender posted a guide on stopping Meta AI from using public Instagram photos.

With the @-mention feature gone, there is no reference setting left for it. The two options above describe how the removed feature worked, not a current menu.

Why Meta pulled the Instagram AI feature after backlash

Meta said it had heard the feedback that the feature "missed the mark", and removed it. The company said its aim was to offer a useful creative tool and give people control over whether their public content could be referenced, as quoted by TechCrunch.

Dylan Byers of Puck News reported that the removal came amid scrutiny from users and talent agencies, including CAA (Creative Artists Agency), according to the same TechCrunch report. Talent agencies represent actors, athletes and other public figures.

That report also makes a broader comment, quoted below. It concerns AI on social platforms in general and is not a finding about this feature.

Meta Muse after the removal: Meta AI image generation stays

Only the Instagram account reference feature was removed, and Muse Image remains. Yahoo Tech describes the model as also offering AI-powered effects in Instagram Stories and AI image generation within direct WhatsApp chats.

For someone who wants to generate a picture with Meta AI, that is what remains of Muse Image. The @-mention that pulled in another person's public photos is gone. Profile picture size by platform: official specs covers the image sizes that Instagram and other services use.

Meta pulled the @-mention feature in three days, but Muse Image stays

The Muse Image Instagram feature launched on July 7, 2026 and was removed on July 10 after immediate backlash over a design with no alert to the account owner. Yahoo Tech also reported that public accounts were opted in by default, and Meta said the feature missed the mark.

Muse Image itself remains, with the Stories effects and WhatsApp image generation that Yahoo Tech describes. The opt-out routes, opting a profile out or making it private, applied to the removed feature only.