Facebook is quietly testing a new AI-powered feature that edits users’ photos — even ones that haven’t been uploaded and remain on a user’s device.
The experimental tool appears when some users attempt to post a Facebook Story, prompting them to opt into what Meta calls “cloud processing.” This tool is ostensibly designed to create automatic content suggestions, such as AI photo edits, collages, and recaps.
If granted permission, Facebook uploads users’ local media to Meta’s servers on an ongoing basis to generate creative content based on factors like date, location, or themes. The photos are only shown to the user unless they decide to shared them. Meta insists they are not currently being used for ad targeting or AI training. But as Tech Crunch notes, enabling the feature requires agreeing to Meta’s AI Terms of Service that allows image and facial feature analysis and the retention of personal information.
Tech Crunch calls it a “slippery slope” regarding privacy concerns and AI. It marks a shift from Meta training AI only on publicly shared photos, which Meta has publicly admitted to, to potentially accessing private, unpublished media to keep building its AI products.
While Meta claims the feature, which has been available for some time, doesn’t currently train its AI models with these camera roll images, it hasn’t ruled out future changes to that policy. Critics argue this “opt-in” model can feel deceptively frictionless, as it blurs the line between personal and public data.
The company says it’s only accessing 30 days’ worth of media at a time, though some content older than 30 days may still be used for suggestions. One Reddit user says Facebook turned her wedding photo into a Studio Ghibli-style image.
Users who’ve enabled the feature can disable it via the Camera Roll Sharing Suggestions section in Facebook’s Preferences settings, which also begins deleting uploaded images after 30 days.
While the feature is being positioned as a way to make sharing easier, it echoes Meta’s broader ambitions to integrate AI more deeply into user experiences. And unlike platforms such as Google Photos, Meta has not clarified whether data used for AI-powered photo suggestions will remain exempt from future AI model training.
The feature is currently being tested in the U.S. and Canada.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
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