- Instagram’s new Restyle feature uses Meta AI to edit photos and videos into stories
- You can add, remove or modify any element of the uploaded media
- There are preset options or you can use your own prompts
Meta has rolled out a new Instagram editing feature in Stories called Restyle, powered by Meta AI, which lets you add, remove, or change photos and videos to match a vision in your imagination (or simply remove a photo bomber). The tool is rolling out in the US, although the video editing option is less accessible than the stills feature.
All you have to do is add a photo or video to your story, tap the Restyle icon and transform your post. The significance of this rollout goes beyond just more fun filters; it could be an important entry point for new AI tool users who wouldn’t bother with a unique app but regularly share media on Instagram.
How to use Restyle
Here’s how to actually use Restyle. Open Instagram and tap plus register your profile picture to start uploading a story. Select your photo or video from your camera roll and load it. In the story editor, look for the brush style Restyle icon at the top right. Then choose if you want Add, Removeor Change anything, or choose one of the preset styles.
Once you’ve selected a style or entered your selection, simply tap Done and in a few seconds you will see the result. You can redo it by tapping the reload icon to get a slightly different image, or you can tap Undo if you want to go back to the previous version of the image. When you’re ready, tap Doneand you can upload the story.
There is also an optional one Add yours sticker if you want your friends to join the trend and share your story.
For videos, the process is similar, but you’ll see preset effects to choose from just like that Underwater, Blizzardor Fire and flames.
As an example, I took a lovely portrait of my dog wearing a bandana and uploaded it. Then I used Restyle to “Remove the bandana”, followed by a request to “Add a superhero costume”.
The Meta AI decided that I literally meant the most famous superhero in the world. Intellectual property rules are clearly not the first priority for AI in its production. Still, as wonderful as she looked, I didn’t want my dog’s other identity to be Captain Copyright Infringement, so I used Restyle to “Change the superhero emblem to something related to space and dogs.”
I was much happier with that picture, so I asked Restyle to “Change the background to a skyscraper roof.” You can see the result above.
Comical AI
I then turned to the preset choices for Restyle and selected the sketch option. I wasn’t very impressed so I used Restyle to “Change it to look more like a comic book,” which went better, and then had the AI ”Add details of a comic book called ‘Cosmic Canine’.” It’s not exactly Jack Kirby, but wait just a few seconds, it’s pretty impressive.
Instagram has competition for AI photo editing tools, making Restyle necessary to keep up in terms of both AI and social media. Google Photos can edit with text prompts, and xAI is aggressively pushing Grok tools on X. And Meta itself has used AI tools in its standalone Meta AI app. But embedding Restyle directly into Stories gives a much larger number of people who might at least test it out.
The Add yours stickers with your restyled image are clearly aimed at making these AI-enhanced images and the tools behind them go viral.
Of course, because the tool uses your uploaded image or video plus text messages, you trust Meta’s model to match your vision, and any AI tool will sometimes be flawed or simply rip off existing trademarks. Still, while the results are nowhere near human-made illustrations or videos in artistic merit, you’ll likely see plenty of people at least trying out the pre-made options, if only to see what they or their dog looks like as a non-copyright felt figure.
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