Nonhuman Instagram profiles are generating fresh scorn this week after reports that parent company Meta is looking to increase the presence of AI-generated content on its social networks as a way of boosting engagement.
Across Threads and Bluesky over the past few days, users have been complaining about AI characters managed by Meta, which are essentially a fleet of verified profiles with various personas.
There’s Scarlett, for instance, who is “everyone’s bestie,” and Izzy, an aspiring singer-songwriter. Brian, meanwhile, is a retired textile worker who is also “everyone’s grandpa.”
Images posted by the characters ostensibly depict their day-to-day lives, such as when Scarlett found the perfect birthday gift at a flea market and enjoyed a “yummy” mocha latte from a nearby food vendor. Most of the content appears to be AI generated and you might not know at first glance that the characters are fake if not for the small “AI managed by Meta” label on the profile pages.
These profiles are not new. Meta announced them over a year ago, and many of the accounts do not appear to have posted much content in recent months.
But the profiles are being newly discovered and discussed on social media after recent reports of Meta’s stepped-up AI ambitions.
Connor Hayes, Meta’s vice president of product for generative AI, told the Financial Times last week that the company is rolling out new ways for users to create AI characters that exist “the same way that accounts do,” meaning they’ll have bios and be able to share content.
How can I block these AI profiles on Instagram?
Of course, not everyone is excited about the idea that social networks built on human interactions will increasingly be the domain of AI-generated content, or “AI slop” to use the accepted term.
Preventing AI-generated accounts and content from appearing in our feeds is only going to get more and more challenging as tech giants continue to lean into generative-AI features. The friction between users who want human-created social media versus the incentives for platforms to drive engagement—to say nothing of the advertisers who presumably pay to reach human consumers—is likely to be one of the big stories of the year in the world of social media.
As for blocking those “managed by Meta” accounts, Meta does not make it easy. The normal options for restricting, blocking, or reporting the profiles directly from their main profile page do not appear to be available, as some users have pointed out.
Update Friday, 1 p.m. ET:
Meta responded to our inquiry after we published this story. A spokesperson said it was removing the profiles to address a “bug” that prevented them from being blocked. When we checked again, our old friends Scarlett, Izzy, and Brian had indeed vanished from Instagram. It’s unclear if they have been removed permanently removed.
“There is confusion: the recent Financial Times article was about our vision for AI characters existing on our platforms over time, not announcing any new product,” a Meta spokesperson told Fast Company. “The accounts referenced are from a test we launched at Connect in 2023. These were managed by humans and were part of an early experiment we did with AI characters. We identified the bug that was impacting the ability for people to block those AIs and are removing those accounts to fix the issue.”
Original story continues below:
There is a work-around, however. If you go to an individual piece of content posted by one of these profiles, you can still report the content, and then you will have the option to block the profile.
For instance, I was able to block Izzy (sorry, Izzy!) by following these steps:
- Go to an image posted by the AI profile
- Click the three dots on the top right of the post
- Click “report”
- Choose the reason (You can say you just don’t like it)
- Instagram will then offer you the option to block the profile
This story and headline have been updated with Meta’s response to our inquiry and to reflect that it has removed the profiles.