Meta has launched a new opt-in AI feature for Facebook in North America that scans a user’s phone photo library to generate content suggestions. The feature, which Meta tested earlier this year, is now available to users in the United States and Canada.
After a user grants permission for the app to access their photo library, the AI scans the media to find content it can use. The system then provides creative suggestions, such as a collage from a recent vacation, a recap of an event like a graduation party, or photos enhanced with AI edits. These AI-generated suggestions are private and visible only to the user within their Stories and Feed until they choose to share them publicly.
Meta may use a user’s media to train its AI models if the user interacts with the feature in specific ways. The company stated it “won’t train its AI on your camera roll ‘unless you choose to edit this media with our AI tools, or share.’” This means media is subject to be used for AI training only if a user applies AI edits or shares the AI-generated content on the platform.
According to the feature’s permission text, the app will upload selected media to Meta’s cloud to generate these creative ideas. The permissions state, “To create ideas for you, we’ll select media from your camera roll and upload it to our cloud on an ongoing basis, based on info like time, location or themes.” However, Meta has specified that any media uploaded for this purpose will not be used for ad targeting.
Because the feature is opt-in, users must actively enable it. For those who grant permission and later decide against using it, the functionality can be disabled at any time through Facebook’s camera roll settings. Following the North American rollout, Meta plans to begin testing the feature in other countries.
