New Delhi, July 13 -- SAN FRANCISCO - Three days was all it took. Meta launched a new AI image feature on Instagram on July 7, let millions of users experiment with it, and pulled it on July 10 after creators and talent agencies raised urgent concerns about the generation of non-consensual imagery. The account owners whose photos fed the feature were never notified. There was no opt-out.

The feature was called Muse Image. It worked by letting any user type a text prompt and include an @ mention of any public Instagram account. Meta's AI would then use that account's publicly posted photos as a visual reference and generate an image from the prompt. A person whose photos were being referenced would receive no notification. There was no me...