As if chatting with Snapchat’s My AI chatbot wasn’t creepy enough, now you can send it photos through “My AI Snaps.”
On Wednesday, Snapchat announced that Snapchat+ users are able to Snap the chatbot photos and receive unique, generative AI messages from the chatbot in return.
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For example, Snapchat says users can send it a photo of their grocery haul and possibly get a recipe for the ingredients in the picture.
The company also discloses that, like all messages with My AI, the Snaps will be stored and could be used to improve the model.
While it is common for most generative AI models to store data to improve their performance, this particular use case raises concerns due to the storage of photos, which are more personal in nature than text conversations.
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Although the feature says it is limited to Snapchat+ users, I wanted to see if I could test the feature without a Plus subscription. To my surprise, I was able to both send “My AI” a photo and get a response.
I sent My AI and Snap of a glass of water on my work desk. The chatbot immediately opened the Snap and started a conversation with me about drinking water.
The initial response was, “Looks like you are staying hydrated!” and the conversation eventually ended with it saying that it was my “virtual friend”.
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Snapchat’s initial My AI release was received poorly by the public, and people even took to other social media platforms like TikTok and Twitter to express their frustrations with the app and the chatbot.
The implementation of this feature is likely Snapchat’s attempt at redemption from that. With a daily active user base of 383 million, surely some of them will find this less creepy than I do, right?