Quick answer: Instagram adds the "AI info" label when your image or video file carries AI data inside it, usually written there by the AI tool or by Photoshop. Remove that data before you upload and the label has nothing to read. If the label is already on a post, you can't switch it off: delete the post and upload a clean copy.

This guide covers posts, stories and reels, why real photos get labelled after a small edit, and what you can and can't change once a post is live.

Why Instagram says "AI info" on your post

Meta, which runs Instagram, Facebook and Threads, announced in February 2024 that it would label AI images by reading industry-standard signals stored in the file. There are two of them:

  • C2PA Content Credentials. A signed record written by ChatGPT, Gemini, Adobe Firefly and Photoshop's AI features, among others. It says which tool made or changed the image.
  • IPTC "digital source type". A metadata field that can say, in effect, "made by an AI model".

In July 2024 Meta renamed the label from "Made with AI" to "AI info", after photographers complained that small edits were being labelled as fully AI-made. Since September 2024, images Meta treats as AI-generated show the label on the post, while images only edited with AI tools get it tucked into the post's menu.

The key point: the label comes from what is written inside the file, and that part you can control.

We checked this on our own account. Of 9 posts, Instagram labelled every image that still had AI data in the file, and none of the cleaned copies. It also left alone two AI images that came with no AI data at all. The full results, including Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok, are in which platforms label AI images.

How to remove AI info before posting (post, story or reel)

The fix is the same whether you're posting to your feed, your story or a reel: upload a copy of the file with the AI data removed.

  1. Save the original. Keep your untouched file somewhere safe; you'll post a copy.
  2. Clean the copy. Open AI Metadata Cleaner, drop in the image, and download the cleaned file. It removes C2PA Content Credentials, IPTC and XMP fields and camera data, in your browser, without uploading your photo anywhere. For a video or reel, use the video metadata remover instead.
  3. Check the report. The cleaner re-reads the new file and tells you whether anything is left.
  4. Upload the cleaned copy to Instagram as a post, story or reel.
  5. Leave the "AI label" switch off in Instagram's posting options, unless you want to label the post yourself.

Take the cleaned file straight to Instagram. If you open it in another editor and re-export, that editor may write its own data back in.

Why real photos get labelled after a small edit

This is the most common complaint, and it usually comes from Photoshop or Lightroom. Adobe attaches Content Credentials when you use its AI features, such as Generative Fill, Generative Expand and Generative Remove. The record doesn't say "one dust spot"; it simply says an AI feature was used. Instagram reads that and adds the label, even though the photo is real.

What helps:

  • For small fixes, the older non-AI tools (Spot Healing Brush, Clone Stamp, Content-Aware Fill) don't add an AI record.
  • If you did use an AI feature, clean the exported file before posting, as above.

Can you remove AI info after posting?

It depends on who added it:

  • You turned it on yourself. Edit the post and switch the AI label off.
  • Instagram added it automatically. There is no switch. The label comes from the file you uploaded, so the only fix is to delete the post and upload a cleaned copy. You'll lose that post's likes and comments.

Our separate guide goes through removing the AI info tag after Instagram added it step by step.

Does the same fix work on Facebook and Threads?

Yes. Facebook and Threads use the same Meta labelling, read from the same data in the file. We tested Facebook in October 2026: AI images from Gemini, ChatGPT and Meta AI were labelled "AI content" the moment they were posted, and their cleaned copies were not labelled at all.

When you should keep the label

Removing metadata changes what the file says, not how the image was made. If you're sharing a realistic AI image of a real person or event, or you're in a paid partnership, Meta's rules and some laws expect you to disclose it, and Instagram's own "AI label" switch is the honest way to do that. Our guide on the legal side of removing AI metadata covers where the lines are.

For photographers whose real work was labelled because of one retouch, removing the data simply stops a misleading label.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my Instagram story say AI info?

The image or video you uploaded carries AI data, usually Content Credentials written by an AI tool or by Photoshop's AI features. Stories read the same file data as posts. Clean the file and post the story again.

How do I get rid of "AI info" on an Instagram post that's already up?

If you added the label yourself, edit the post and turn the AI label off. If Instagram added it, you can't switch it off; delete the post and upload a copy with the metadata removed.

Does Instagram detect AI from the picture itself?

Meta's published approach is to read industry signals stored in the file: C2PA Content Credentials and IPTC fields. Our own test agrees: two AI images with no AI data in the file were not labelled, and neither were cleaned copies of labelled images. Meta has also said it is working on classifiers that could spot AI content without those signals, so treat cleaning as removing the signals Instagram reads today, not as a guarantee for every future change.

Will cleaning the file lower its quality?

AI Metadata Cleaner saves a fresh copy at high quality by default. If you'd rather keep the image data untouched, turn on Preserve original quality, which removes the metadata only.

Does taking a screenshot remove the AI label?

Often, because a screenshot is a new file without the original's Content Credentials. But it also lowers the resolution and adds your phone's own data, so cleaning the original file gives a better result.

Is it against Instagram's rules to remove the AI info label?

Meta asks you to label realistic AI content that could mislead people. Removing metadata from a real photo you only retouched is different from hiding that an image of a real event is fake. Use the label when the content is realistic and made by AI.