Meta launched an AI feature last week allowing anyone to use photos from public Instagram accounts to generate AI images. Everyone was automatically opted in. Including you.

A note to Tea sippers: Meta has now walked the feature back, but I’d advise you to opt out of this feature in case it returns. Here’s how: Go to your Instagram profile → hamburger menu → Sharing and reuse → turn off reuse for posts, reels, and original audio on Meta AI.

To me, this move by Meta is indicative of a larger trend: social media and AI playbooks are starting to merge.

Social platforms learned that our attention, data, and engagement were incredibly valuable. So they built products to keep us scrolling, sharing, and yes...fighting with strangers.

AI companies have similar incentives. Even if you pay for a subscription, they want you using more tokens, sharing more context, and building deeper habits. The more AI knows about you, the more useful it becomes—and the harder it becomes to leave.

We spent years dealing with engagement farming on social media. Now we’re recreating the wheel with AI.

How do we stop this before it escalates?

Part of it is awareness. Part may be regulation. The rest? I’m brewing on it. I’d love your take. ☕️