Social media platform Snapchat is seeking to secure a headstart over its major rivals TikTok and Instagram by making its AI-powered chatbot My AI available to all of its users. Currently My AI is only available to its Snapchat+ subscription base.
Unveiling the news at its annual developer conference, the platform said: “Snapchat+ subscribers have been loving My AI, our AI-powered chatbot, sending nearly 2 million chat messages per day to learn more about movies, sports, pets, and the world around them. Today, we announced My AI is rolling out to Snapchatters globally.”
The move comes as Open AI’s Chat GPT continues to make headlines, with the ability to harness AI now viewed as a key competitive battlefield among big tech rivals.
My AI is powered by same tech as ChatGPT. Similar to its more famous cousin, users can ask questions, request content, and have conversations with the service.
Snapchat said the extension of My AI to its entire user base will come with several new features. It is possible, for example, to personalise My AI and bring My AI into Conversations with Friends. The newly-democratised My AI can also surface place recommendations from the Snap Map and suggests relevant Lenses.
While Snapchat is keen to drive uptake, it acknowledges that “My AI is far from perfect”. There are concerns for example that My AI activity might sometimes breach community guidelines, or that it might be misused by underage Snapchatters. On the first point, the platform said: “99.5% percent of My AI responses conform to our community guidelines, and since launch, we’ve worked to improve by programming My AI to adhere to our community guidelines to help protect against responses that could be inappropriate or harmful”. It has also implemented a new age signal using a Snapchatter’s birthdate, so the chatbot will take their age into consideration.
As yet, it is too early to know how Snapchat+ subscribers will react to the news that My AI is now also available to the wider non-paying community.
Snapchat said it also introducing new tools so that creators can use the platform to go viral – thus unlocking larger ad revenue shares. Snapchat’s main focus has always been on private communication rather than public interaction. But new tools will allow creators to run a public page simultaneously to posting content privately.
