Instagram Looks to Limit AI-Created Accounts Posing as Human

Instagram says its users don’t appreciate discovering that a human-looking profile is actually AI-generated.

To that end, the Meta-owned social media platform announced Monday (Aug. 31) that it is taking steps to make sure AI-created profiles are clearer.

That means renaming Instagram’s AI creator label to “AI-generated profile” to make it more obvious to users when a profile features an AI-generated person rather than a human. The platform is also limiting the reach of profiles that feature an AI-generated person but do not add the “AI-generated profile” label.

“This update builds on the learnings of the AI creator label we began testing earlier this year,” Instagram wrote on its blog.

“As generative AI becomes a bigger part of how people create, we’ve heard that people don’t like seeing a profile that seems human, only to find out later that the person featured is AI-generated. They want to know when a profile features an AI-generated person.”

According to the blog post, creators who had already added the AI creator label will now see the new name and have a chance to review the AI-generated profile label, confirm if it still fits, or remove it if it no longer applies. Creators who only use AI tools as part of their creative process don’t need to have the include label.

“For unlabeled profiles that feature an AI-generated person, creators can and should apply the label by editing their profile and toggling on AI-generated profile,” Instagram added.

The news comes amid backlash against the use of AI-created likenesses. Earlier this summer, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance legislation designed to curb the spread of unauthorized AI-generated replicas of individuals.

The Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act, would establish a federal intellectual property right covering a person’s voice and visual likeness.

“This bill is about protecting what’s most personal to us, what makes us us: our voice and our likeness,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., one of the bill’s sponsors.

This technology can also be used to commit financial fraud, as PYMNTS wrote recently. While synthetic identity fraud is not new, AI has pushed it to a new level.

“A synthetic borrower in 2026 may arrive with a convincing driver’s license generated by image models, employment verification supported by AI-written HR correspondence, and a live onboarding video featuring a deepfake face synchronized with cloned speech patterns,” that report said. “Some fraud operations are reportedly generating entire digital footprints.”