Meta Launches Muse Image AI Image Generator

Social media giant Meta in July 2026 unveiled Muse Image, an AI image-generation model developed by its Superintelligence Labs, and integrated it into Instagram and WhatsApp. The model supports complex prompts and QR code generation. It was offered free of charge and marked a significant move by a technology giant into the AI imaging market.

However, the feature sparked a serious privacy backlash because the model used photos from public Instagram accounts by default without their owners’ consent. Meta urgently removed the free image-generation feature in mid-July 2026 to quell the criticism. It also delayed Muse Video, a video-generation service originally scheduled for release later.