Meta Adds AI-Powered Editing to Instagram Stories

Meta has introduced AI-powered photo and video editing tools directly into Instagram Stories, allowing users to modify their content using text prompts to add, remove, or change elements within their photos and videos.
The new editing options are available in the “Restyle” menu, accessible by tapping the paintbrush icon at the top of the Instagram Stories interface. Users can select “add,” “remove,” or “change” and describe the desired edit in a prompt bar. Examples of possible edits include changing a user’s hair color, adding a crown to their head, or placing a sunset in the background. In addition to custom text prompts, preset effects are available, such as altering a person’s outfit by adding items like sunglasses or a biker jacket, or applying style presets like a watercolor effect to an entire image. For video content, users can apply effects that simulate weather conditions like snow or add elements such as flames.
To use these features, users must accept Meta’s AI Terms of Service, which permit Meta to analyze user media and facial features to “summarize image contents, modify images, and generate new content based on the image.”
This update is part of a broader series of AI-related introductions from Meta. Recently, the company was observed testing a “Write with Meta AI” prompt to help Instagram users compose comments for posts. Last month, Meta launched “Vibes,” an AI-generated video feed within the Meta AI application. The introduction of “Vibes” likely contributed to an increase in downloads, with daily active users for the Meta AI app on iOS and Android rising to 2.7 million as of October 17, up from approximately 775,000 users four weeks prior, according to data from Similarweb.
In response to potential parental concerns, Meta announced new parental control features earlier this month. These controls enable parents to disable their teenagers’ chats with AI characters and monitor the topics their teens discuss with the Meta AI chatbot.