Looking to Turn Off Meta's AI Features? Here's How
Meta recently rolled out AI components on its apps earlier this year, leaving many users annoyed by the tech and looking for ways to turn it off. Here are the simple ways to get rid of AI chat on Facebook and Instagram.
In order to turn off AI chat on Facebook, go to the search bar, which now appears as a blue circle instead of a magnifying glass. Click on the blue arrow, which will take you to Meta’s AI chat box.
Once the chat box is open, look for the “i” in the upper right-hand corner of your screen and click on it. Select the “mute” option that appears on the menu of options, then choose how long you want to mute AI. If you want to mute AI indefinitely, choose the “until I change it” option.
Turning AI off on Instagram is a similar process. Like Facebook, navigate to the search bar and click on the blue arrow. This will take you to Instagram’s AI chat box.
In order to turn off AI chat on Instagram, navigate to the search bar and click on the blue arrow. This will take you to Instagram’s AI chat box.
While these steps won’t scrub the presence of Meta AI completely from your Facebook and Instagram experiences, they will mute and prevent notifications from Meta AI chat, one of the features netizens have found most bothersome.
Meta's AI Tool
Meta AI is the social media giant’s newest tool, and some users are unfamiliar with how it works. The feature, which rolled out in over a dozen countries on April 18, aims to make tasks easier for users.
With Meta AI at your fingertips, you can research topics, explore interests, get how-to advice, and learn new hobbies. Leading search providers have been integrated so you can get up-to-date information from the web. Now, you can also ask Meta AI anything with search across our family of apps.
The feature cannot be turned off, but people can use the search tools as normal if they’d like. The Meta AI can be used directly from its website as well. On the site, people can “ask Meta AI anything.” Example prompts include “Create a packing list for a trip,” “Make my email sound more professional,” “Play 90s music trivia,” “Help me with an assignment,” “Simulate a mock interview” or “Paint NYC in watercolor.”
It’s not surprising that Meta has now made AI an integral part of their popular apps’ interfaces. Axios reported that the company “has been investing in AI for years.”
These investments actually caused Meta shares to fall 15% “after CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that he is doubling down on spending on AI infrastructure even though any bottom-line payoff is a long way off.”
Users are complaining as well; an op-ed from Fast Company claimed the rampant AI components and posts are making the apps “unusable.”
“The Meta AI experience has so far been a spam-filled one,” writer Scott Nover said, adding that Facebook and Instagram users are already posting lots of AI-generated content.
Nover added, “To that end, Meta has pledged to label AI-generated images, video, or audio on its platforms, but only if they detect ‘industry standard AI image indicators.’ They didn’t say what those indicators are.”
“If Meta thinks that what users are craving is more AI, they’re ignoring the fact that the Facebook and Instagram experience is already full of AI. Do we really need more?” he concluded.
