Facebook and Instagram are making AI labels less prominent on edited content

Meta is updating how it labels content on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads that has been edited or manipulated using generative AI. In an updated blog post, Meta announced that its "AI Info" tag will appear within a menu in the top-right corner of images and videos edited with AI - instead of directly beneath the user's name.

Users can click on the menu to check if AI information is available and read what may have been adjusted. Meta previously applied the "AI Info" tag to all AI-related content - whether it was lightly adjusted in a tool like Photoshop that includes AI features or fully AI-generated from a prompt.

The company says the changes are being introduced to "better reflect the extent of AI used" across images and videos on the platforms.

This label was introduced in July after Meta's previous "Made with AI" label was criticized by creators and photographers for incorrectly tagging real photos they had taken. "We will still display the 'AI info' label for content we detect was generated by an AI tool and share whether the content is labeled because of industry-shared signals or because someone self-disclosed," Meta said in the update, adding that the changes will start rolling out next week.

The "industry-shared signals" Meta mentions refer to systems like Adobe's C2PA-supported Content Credentials metadata, which can be applied to any content made or edited using its Firefly generative AI tools. Other similar systems exist, such as the SynthID digital watermarks that Google says are applied to content generated by its own AI tools. Meta hasn't disclosed which systems, or how many, it checks for.

However, removing tags completely on real images that have been manipulated may also make it harder for users to avoid being misled, especially as generative AI editing tools available on new phones become increasingly convincing.

Update, September 12th: Updated subheadline to note the labeling is changing for AI-edited content, not AI-generated content.