Snapchat is adding an AI chatbot to its messaging app. Called My AI, the experimental feature gives Snapchat+ subscribers a conversational companion that can help with light tasks, while the company cautions that its responses can be wrong or inappropriate.
A chatbot built for conversation
My AI runs on the latest version of OpenAI’s GPT technology, customized for Snapchat users. The chatbot appears pinned to the top of the Chat tab, where it is positioned as a persona people can talk to in a familiar messaging setting.
Snapchat describes the feature as having a distinct voice and personality shaped around “friendship, learning and fun.” Users can give My AI a name and change the wallpaper for its chat, making it feel more like a personalized presence within the app.
The company suggests everyday uses rather than presenting My AI as a search engine. It can help answer trivia, write a haiku, suggest a dinner recipe, offer birthday gift ideas for a friend, or help plan a hiking trip for a long weekend.
Snapchat warns that answers can go wrong
The company says My AI has been trained to follow Snapchat’s trust and safety guidelines, including avoiding biased, incorrect, harmful, or misleading information. Still, Snapchat acknowledges that the chatbot has “many deficiencies” and that mistakes may happen.
Snapchat also says that, like other AI chatbots, My AI can be tricked into saying almost anything. The warning sets expectations for users: its safety design does not guarantee that every response will be suitable or dependable.
Users can send feedback by pressing and holding a message from My AI. That gives Snapchat a way to hear about specific interactions as it develops the experimental feature.
Chats may be reviewed
Conversations with My AI will be stored and may be reviewed to improve the product experience. Snapchat advises users not to share secrets with the chatbot and not to depend on it for advice.
Those cautions matter because My AI sits inside a social app where people already exchange personal messages. A chatbot may feel like a natural part of a chat list, but Snapchat’s guidance makes clear that people should treat it differently from a trusted friend or adviser.
Snapchat says the feature is designed to avoid harmful or misleading topics and not respond in those circumstances. It nevertheless acknowledges the possibility of errors, so users are being asked to approach its answers with care.
An experiment for Snapchat+ subscribers
At launch, My AI was available as an experimental feature for Snapchat+, the company’s subscription service priced at $3.99 a month. Pinning it at the top of the Chat tab gives subscribers direct access alongside their conversations.
Snapchat framed the launch as a way to bring AI into its messaging platform and potentially make AI interactions part of what attracts its community. The company said its app reaches 750 million people per month, including 75% of 13- to 34-year-olds in over 20 countries.
The feature also arrives amid growing public interest in chatbots, following ChatGPT’s popularity. For Snapchat, My AI offers a way to explore that interest within an existing social experience. In the near term, it could also support the company’s paid subscription business, whose subscriber count had recently passed two million.