Everything you need to know about AI labels on Instagram

It’s no secret that AI is taking over the tech space. Google has Gemini, iPhone has Apple Intelligence, Adobe Photoshop has Generative Fill… love it or hate it, artificial intelligence is exploding across our devices and programs and leaking into content all across social media. Just like almost anything else, artificial intelligence can be used for good or evil. It can help people explore new ideas, accelerate productivity and add a sheen when wrapping up a concept. However, there’s also a dark side to the AI boom. With computer-generated images and videos becoming increasingly realistic, it can be difficult to spot organic material from its artificial counterpart. But Instagram has developed a solution…

The introduction of AI labels on Instagram

In the battle against deepfakes and misleading content, Instagram has introduced AI labels in a bid to provide increased transparency on the platform. Instagram now requires certain types of content using AI to add a label identifying it as such. AI labels are placed above relevant content.

Adding AI labels to relevant content can help maintain trust with audience members.

There are 2 types of AI Info labels currently added to Instagram content:

1. Labels that the publisher adds to the content.
2. Labels added by Instagram.

What content requires an AI label?

The rules around labelling content made with AI have already changed since the rolling out of the system and it’s likely further updates and tweaks to the system will arise as AI continues to evolve. 

Currently Meta requires AI info labels to be added to content shared that has photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that has been digitally generated or altered. It does not require you to label images that have been created or altered with AI, however images may still receive a label if Meta’s systems detect that they are AI-generated. 

There may be penalties if you publish content without adding a required label.

How to add an AI label to your content

AI labels are added on Instagram using a simple toggle of a switch.

Here’s how:

1. Upload/create and edit your content as usual and navigate to the publication screen.
2. Toggle the switch next to ‘Add AI label’.
3. Share your content.

Instagram dishes out its own AI labels

Content may be labelled automatically by Instagram if it contains AI signals. These signals are added by creation tools and picked up by Meta which then adds a label to the content on Instagram. You can find out if an AI label was added by the content publisher or Instagram by tapping ‘AI info’ followed by ‘View AI info’.

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