Backdrop: Generative AI helps you beautify your Instagram Stories

Meta had promised to put generative AI at the service of users of Instagram, its flagship application, and it is now done: Backdrop, one of the tools presented during its annual conference on virtual reality and artificial intelligence, is available for American users.

Clearly, not a day goes by without artificial intelligence bringing its share of innovations. While the race for AI takes on the air of a show of force, with each player having the ambition to impress and dominate the sector (as was the case with the presentation of Gemini by Google), the group founded by Mark Zuckerberg chooses with this new functionality to use artificial intelligence for creative and playful purposes. Backdrop is indeed a gadget for generating AI-powered backgrounds to enhance Instagram Stories.

Users can choose from various background styles, with the AI ​​merging the original photo with the fake background for a realistic effect. Whether it’s posting a memory of a vacation on a desert island without ever having left the city, or a selfie at the top of the Burj Khalifa while you’re dizzy, Backdrop’s algorithm takes care of everything. Ahmad Al-Dahle, executive at Meta, unveiled this new tool on the social network Threads – itself available in Europe since December 14 – through a video tutorial.

If we are right to question the excesses that the creation of false images can lead to (misappropriation, fake newsetc.), Meta nevertheless adds the words “AI·Backdrop by Instagram” to each story that has used the Backdrop function, to indicate that it is indeed a trick.

For the moment, only users across the Atlantic have access to Backdrop on Instagram, but it’s a safe bet that an update will soon arrive on the Old Continent. Backdrop, however, is just a taste of what awaits Meta users. Mark Zuckerberg has already mentioned Meta AI, his ChatGPT-type assistant, or even Emu, an AI capable of creating images in a few seconds using text, like Midjourney.