Instagram Bug Mislabels Friends As “AI,” Causing Confusion Among Users

On July 25th, Instagram experienced a peculiar technical glitch that led to widespread confusion among many users. The issue involved a weird bug where many users’ friend lists displayed all contacts under the same name AI (Artificial Intelligence). Despite the profile photos still being correct, this uniform naming made it difficult for users to identify and communicate with their actual friends.

The problem was reported on platforms such as Reddit, where user “9yearold911” explained that all their contacts appeared with the label “AI,” making it impossible to distinguish between them. Attempts to send videos or messages were also hampered because searching for a specific friend by name yielded no useful results. Other users shared similar frustrations, with one stating they had to resort to manually sending video links and describing the process as feeling like “a damn Neanderthal.”

Instagram labeled my friends as AI??? Now they do up normally in my chat but when I try to send them any reel I can’t coz they don’t show up even if I search there names, it wasn’t like this couple hours ago.
byu/9yearold911 inInstagram

In addition to the issue mentioned above, some users encountered an error message on the app’s homepage stating, “AI chats are not yet available to everyone.” This suggests that Meta (Instagram’s parent company) may be in the process of integrating artificial intelligence features more deeply into the app, potentially causing these disruptions.

It’s worth mentioning that this was not the first instance of user dissatisfaction related to AI integration on Instagram. In June, multiple users reported being wrongly banned from the platform due to alleged violations involving automation tools—despite not having breached the platform’s rules. These incidents raised broader concerns about the impact of AI moderation and automation on user experience.

So far, Meta has not released any official statement explaining this peculiar glitch and, as a result, those affected by the issue are left waiting for clarification and a possible fix.

The incident highlights the challenges of integrating advanced AI features into widely used social platforms, especially when such changes are not clearly communicated or properly tested beforehand. Until Meta addresses the matter publicly, users will need to remain patient and vigilant regarding further developments or disruptions.

Filed in Cellphones >Robots. Read more about AI (Artificial Intelligence), Bug, Bugs, Instagram and Meta.