Meta will label AI-generated images shared on Facebook, Instagram & Threads

Meta announced that it will begin labelling AI-generated images posted to Facebook, Instagram, and Threads in the upcoming months. Additionally, the company will start penalizing users who fail to declare whether artificial intelligence was used to create a realistic video or audio clip.

The platform shared the update in a blog post written by Nick Clegg, President, Global Affairs - Meta. The post mentioned that the company has labelled photorealistic images created using Meta AI since it launched so that people know they are 'Imagined with AI'.

He further said, "People are often coming across AI-generated content for the first time and our users have told us they appreciate transparency around this new technology. So, it’s important that we help people know when photorealistic content they’re seeing has been created using AI."

Meta is going to start watermarking AI-generated images developed with tools from Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Adobe, Midjourney, and Shutterstock with the same watermark that it already applies to images created with its own Imagine AI generator. According to Clegg, industry standards for recognising audio and video produced by artificial intelligence are still far behind. and that although Meta is continuously monitoring such media for potential deceptive uses, the business cannot possibly keep an eye on everything.

According to Clegg, Meta is going to start requiring its users to identify when posts that include realistic images or sounds are created using artificial intelligence. Should they fail to do so, he stated, "the range of penalties that will apply will run the full gamut from warnings through to removal" of the offending post.