Photographers Fight Back: Meta Updates AI Labels After Authentic Photos Mislabeled

Meta has recently updated their AI labels after receiving complaints from photographers who were surprised to see the label “created with artificial intelligence” on their authentic photos. The company has now changed the wording to AI info to address the confusion.

In early 2021, Meta introduced the “Made with AI” labels after a review of their policy by the US Internet Regulatory Board. The board determined that it was difficult to distinguish between images created with artificial intelligence and authentic images. However, it became apparent to photographers that authentic photos were mistakenly labeled as AI-generated.

Upon further investigation, Meta discovered that the labeling was linked to images that had been retouched or enhanced using AI tools from various software. Meta’s computer systems identified these manipulations and automatically applied AI labels, leading to the complaints from photographers like Pete Souza.

Souza, a former White House photographer, found that one of his photos was incorrectly tagged with the artificial intelligence label. He suspected that editing in Adobe’s Photoshop software triggered Meta’s algorithm to add the tag, even though he tried to remove it.

This week, Meta announced the correction of the label to AI info for images identified as being made with artificial intelligence. Users can now click on the label for more information, which explains that Meta may add the label when content with artificial intelligence characteristics is detected by their system.