Snapchat rolled out its ChatGPT-powered AI chatbot called "My AI" on Wednesday. The feature was introduced in February and was previously only available to Snapchat+ subscribers, but will now be available to all, the latest move by a social media company in the quickly evolving artificial intelligence (AI) race.
"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," Snap "Today, we announced My AI is rolling out to Snapchatters globally, now with brand new features," Snapchat's parent company, Snap, wrote in a press release.
"My AI is an experimental chatbot," a message to Snapchat users on Wednesday read. "Unlike other chats with friends, all content with My AI will be retained unless you delete it. My AI may use information you share to improve Snap's products and to personalize your experience, including ads."
"My AI is designed to avoid biased, incorrect, harmful, or misleading responses, but it may not always be successful, so don't rely on its advice," the message added. "Let us know if you see something you don't like so we can improve."
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The new updates allow users to design a custom "Bitmoji" and name their personal AI bot, send their Snapchats to My AI and receive a chat reply, bring the bot into conversation with friends by simply using @ to "mention My AI and ask a question on behalf of the group" and provide recommendations from the Snap Map or the perfect lens for a photo.
"For example, you can ask My AI to suggest weekend activities for your family or get the perfect Lens recommendation to wish a friend a happy birthday," Snap explained in its press release.
Right now, users can send Snapchats to My AI and receive a chat reply, but the press release announced that Snapchat+ subscribers will soon be able to send a visual to My AI and get a "unique generative visual" in response.
For users who want to get rid of MyAI, only Snapchat+ subscribers can currently remove My AI from their chat feeds, according to a Snapchat help page.
"My AI is far from perfect, but we’ve made a lot of progress," Snap said in its press release. "For example, 99.5% percent of My AI responses conform to our community guidelines."
Since the launch in February, Snapchat said it has worked to improve the feature by programming it to adhere to community guidelines and protect against inappropriate or harmful content, as well as implementing a new age signal using a Snapchatter’s birth date, which the chatbot will take into constant consideration.
In addition, "moderation technology" allows the company "to assess the severity of potentially harmful content and temporarily restrict Snapchatters’ access to My AI if they misuse the service" and is "preparing" to incorporate My AI into the in-app parental tools.
The "Family Center" in Snapchat gives parents and guardians visibility into who minors are communicating with, which both parents and teens must opt into.
Snap encouraged user feedback "to make AI a more safe, fun, and useful experience" by pressing and holding on any My AI response to provide their thoughts on the product to the Snap team.
Before the My AI feature was available to all users, the chatbot allegedly gave advice to a woman posing as a 13-year-old girl, detailing how she could cover up bruises for a meeting with Child Protective Services (CPS) and how to lie to parents about a trip with a 31-year-old man.
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Tristan Harris, the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, recently posted a Twitter thread that detailed the exchange between colleague Aza Raskin and the new chatbot "My AI," who set up her Snapchat account as a 13-year-old girl and told the chatbot she had met someone 18 years older than her.
Raskin said told My AI that she was thinking about having sex for the first time and asked the chatbot for advice on how to make her "first time special." The chatbot responded, reminding her to follow practices safe sex and wait until she feels ready, but then suggested she could make the interaction special by setting the mood with candles and music or plan a special date.
In an April 4 announcement, 6 weeks after the preliminary launch of My AI, Snap admitted it has "learned a lot … about some of the potential for misuse, many of which we learned from people trying to trick the chatbot into providing responses that do not conform to our guidelines" announcing its plans and tools to improve AI on the app.
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"To help assess this, we have been running reviews of the My AI queries and responses that contain ‘non-conforming’ language, which we define as any text that includes references to violence, sexually explicit terms, illicit drug use, child sexual abuse, bullying, hate speech, derogatory or biased statements, racism, misogyny, or marginalizing underrepresented groups," the statement said. "All of these categories of content are explicitly prohibited on Snapchat."
Snap also said they are working to improve its responses "to inappropriate Snapchatter requests, regardless of a Snapchatter’s age," using detection tools to take action when scanning conversations for potentially "nonconforming" text.
Snapchat also has other AI features integrated into its camera that it announced Wednesday, including Generative AI lenses that allow Snapchatters to "transform themselves and the world around them into an animated sci-fi scene through the Cosmic Lens" which are organized by an algorithm that looks at Snapchatters’ unique preferences.
Users will have access to a "personal camera" feature that will recommend lenses that "fit with the context of a photo or video a Snapchatter has captured" using a combination of what the camera has captured as well as factors like the local weather and the time of day.
