Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Faces Backlash For Mislabeling Real Photos As 'Made With AI'

Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta Platforms Inc. META has been under fire for mislabeling real photos as AI-generated on its social networks, a move that has sparked outrage among photographers and users.

What Happened: In February, Meta announced that it would start labeling photos created with AI tools on its social networks. Since May, the company has been consistently tagging some photos with a “Made with AI” label on its Facebook, Instagram, and Threads apps.

However, its approach has drawn criticism after it labeled photos that were not created using AI tools. This includes a photo of the Kolkata Knight Riders winning the Indian Premier League Cricket tournament. The label is only visible on the mobile apps and not on the web, reported TechCrunch reported on Friday.

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Benzinga independently confirmed these allegations and found that the “Made with AI” label is still present on some photographs.

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Photographers have expressed concerns over their images being wrongly tagged with the “Made with AI” label. They argue that simply editing a photo with a tool should not warrant the label.

Former White House photographer Pete Souza revealed that one of his photos was tagged with the new label. He suspects that this was triggered by a change in how Adobe’s cropping tool works. “What's annoying is that the post forced me to include the ‘Made with AI' even though I unchecked it,” Souza said.

Despite the backlash, Meta has not provided a clear explanation for the mislabeling. The company has, however, stated that it is evaluating its approach to ensure that its labels reflect the amount of AI used in an image.

“Our intent has always been to help people know when they see content that has been made with AI. We are taking into account recent feedback and continue to evaluate our approach so that our labels reflect the amount of AI used in an image,” a Meta spokesperson told the report.

Meta did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comments.

Why It Matters: Meta’s mislabeling issue also raises concerns about the proliferation of deepfakes, as highlighted by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey on Sunday. He warned that the influx of counterfeit content in the next five to 10 years will make it feel like living in a simulation, stressing the need for a shift in mindset towards verifying things through personal experience and intuition.

Earlier this year, doctored explicit images of singer Taylor Swift, manipulated voice recordings of President Joe Biden, and videos featuring allegedly deceased children and teenagers describing their deaths went viral, raising concerns among lawmakers and citizens alike.

These fake AI-generated images prompted actions by companies like Meta to label such posts to halt the spreading of misinformation among the masses. However, now it appears Meta’s solution might be making the situation more chaotic.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Photo courtesy: Meta Platforms