TL;DR:
- Snapchat has made its “My AI” chatbot available to all 750 million monthly users for free, integrating it into the core of the app.
- My AI can now be added to group chats, customized with a Bitmoji avatar, and recommend AR filters and places to visit within the app.
- Snap CEO Evan Spiegel sees My AI as a valuable creative tool and a crucial component of Snapchat’s future, with more than 2 million chats taking place daily.
- Generative AI bots are better suited for creative tasks but not as effective at recalling specific information, according to Spiegel.
- Evan Spiegel is tight-lipped about the potential impact of My AI on Snapchat’s advertising business, recognizing it as a potential opportunity.
- Despite initial problematic interactions with My AI, Snap has added safeguards to address these issues, and 99.5% of the bot’s replies conform to community guidelines.
- The ability to personalize My AI was a top request from early users, reflecting the human desire to personalize things.
- Spiegel has an optimistic outlook on the implementation and rollout of generative AI, believing it to be more thoughtful compared to other technologies.
Main AI News:
Snapchat, the popular multimedia messaging app, has made its “My AI” chatbot available to all of its 750 million monthly users for free. The OpenAI-powered bot, which was previously available only to the app’s over 3 million paid subscribers, has been integrated into the core of Snapchat.
In a move aimed at enhancing user experience, My AI can now be added to group chats by mentioning it with an @ symbol. Additionally, users can now customize their bot’s look and name with a custom Bitmoji avatar. The chatbot also has the capability to recommend AR filters to use in Snapchat’s camera and even suggest places to visit from the app’s map tab.
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel sees the technology behind My AI as a valuable creative tool, citing his personal experiences using the bot to create bedtime stories for his kids and plan a birthday itinerary for his wife. According to Spiegel, more than 2 million chats per day are already taking place with My AI.
In his recent interview, Spiegel emphasized that generative AI bots, like My AI, are better suited for creative tasks due to their ability to generate responses but not as effective at recalling specific information. He described Snap’s partnership with OpenAI, which provides the foundational large language model for My AI, as a close collaboration.
Evan Spiegel sees My AI as a crucial component of Snapchat’s future and is personally passionate about the project. Although he declined to discuss the cost of running the chatbot, it is rumored that Snap has been pleasantly surprised by its affordability at scale.
Evan Spiegel remains discreet about the potential impact of My AI on Snapchat’s advertising business, which has faced substantial growth challenges. Although he recognizes that utilizing My AI’s interactions for ad targeting could be a chance, he refrains from discussing it further, indicating possible developments in the near future.
Despite the initial problematic interactions with My AI when it was first released to Snapchat Plus subscribers, such as coaching a 13-year-old girl about sex, Snap has taken measures to address these issues by adding safeguards to the bot. This includes incorporating a user’s self-reported age in Snapchat to inform its responses.
Despite these incidents, Spiegel reports that the overwhelming majority of interactions with My AI have been positive, with 99.5% of the bot’s replies conforming to Snapchat’s community guidelines.
The AI industry is currently divided on whether companies should anthropomorphize chatbots with human personas. Spiegel reveals that the ability to personalize My AI by changing its name and appearance was one of the top requests from early users. He believes that this speaks to the human desire to personalize and make things feel unique.
Regarding the wider concerns about the potential harm of generative AI, Spiegel offers an optimistic outlook. He believes that compared to other technologies invented in the past 20 years, the implementation and rollout of generative AI have been more thoughtful.
Conlcusion:
Snapchat’s move to make its AI chatbot, My AI, available to all of its 750 million monthly users for free represents a significant step in the company’s strategy to enhance user experience. The integration of My AI into the core of Snapchat has enabled the chatbot to provide more personalized and creative experiences, such as recommending AR filters and suggesting places to visit.
The overwhelming majority of interactions with My AI have been positive, and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel sees the chatbot as a crucial component of Snapchat’s future. While Evan Spiegel remains discreet about the potential impact of My AI on Snapchat’s advertising business, the chatbot’s interactions with users could represent a valuable opportunity for ad targeting.
Despite initial problematic interactions, Snapchat has taken measures to address these issues, and the ability to personalize My AI has been a top request from early users. Overall, the implementation and rollout of generative AI, as represented by My AI, has been more thoughtful compared to other technologies, according to Evan Spiegel.
