Snapchat’s ChatGPT-powered AI personality is expanding to all users of the app. An enhanced version of “My AI,” the in-app chatbot previously limited to Snapchat+ subscribers, is now rolling out globally, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel announced at the company’s Partner Summit event.
With the expansion, My AI has a number of new Snapchat-specific features. You can provide Snapchat users with recommendations for restaurants and other activities based on what’s popular on Snap Map, and you can suggest augmented reality lenses. Users can also add the AI to group chats and set a custom name and avatar (via Bitmoji) for the person in the AI. My AI can now also respond to photo and video snapshots. For now, you can only reply with text messages, but Snap says you’ll be able to reply to snaps with your own AI-generated art “soon.” (However, that feature will be exclusive to Snapchat+.)
While the rollout of My AI has been limited so far, the company says My AI has already been a hit with users, who exchange 2 million messages a day with the bot. However, Snap’s implementation of the OpenAI technology has also been criticized. the washington post reported that the bot engaged in inappropriate conversations and gave questionable advice to researchers posing as teenagers.
Now, Snap says My AI uses “additional moderation technology” so that users can be temporarily restricted from the feature if they “misuse the service.” The company also says the AI has been trained to consider the age of the user you’re messaging with to help prevent chats from straying into unsafe territory. Additionally, parents will eventually be able to use the app’s parental control feature, Family Center, to track how much time their teen spends chatting with their new AI friend.
Even so, Snap seems to be well aware of the limitations of My AI, which he previously described as “prone to hallucinations.” Even Spiegel, who suggested that interacting with AI like ChatGPT will soon be an everyday activity, was somewhat cautious in his endorsement: “My AI certainly makes a lot of mistakes, so you can’t rely on it for advice, but it’s definitely entertaining. ” he said.
