Snapchat has announced its Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot is now available on a global scale to its paid subscribers. Initially launched in February, the chatbot was powered by Open AI’s GPT technology, and since its debut, users have already sent almost two million messages per day. This increase in global use has led the chatbot’s features to upgrade significantly, with the ability to add My AI to group chats, give Snap Map, Lenses and Snaps recommendations, as well as being able to share Snaps and receive chat replies. Later users will be able to receive visual responses, such as creative photos.
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel spoke about the development of the chatbot and its capabilities, giving examples of what the AI bot might suggest when given a photo of a dog – such as a funny dog photo – or a picture of your garden – it could come up with a recipe. However, shortly after the release of the chatbot product, the Washington Post reported the AI had inappropriate responses and contexts when asked specific questions from young users. To address these issues, Snapchat added age filters and stated they would introduce measures for parents to monitor their child’s interaction with the bot in their Family Center. As of today’s global release, these parental controls are still in the works. According to the company, the AI chatbot will still be limited to Snapchat+ subscribers.
Snapchat is a popular multimedia messaging app founded by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown, originally known as Picaboo and later Snapchat Inc. As the company continued to grow, they rebranded to Snap Inc. in late 2016 and released highly successful products, such as Spectacles and Bitmojis, widely used by the current Snapchat user base of over 2 billion active users. Throughout its existence, Snapchat has embraced the integration of Artificial Intelligence, with their latest AI chatbot launch being a prime example of the company’s push for innovation.
