The social media platform Snapchat launched today a new AI-powered chatbot called My AI that leverages the popular technology developed by OpenAI for users to find answers and come up with ideas for different ordinary life situations.
The tech company is joining the growing list of businesses that are embracing the AI trend and this latest tool is meant to be a knowledgeable friend who can help you come up with an idea for a gift for your friend or the theme that you may pick for an office party. Users can also pick a name for their chatbot and even change the wallpaper of the messaging window.
Snapchat (SNAP) has warned users that they should not blindly trust the information and facts communicated by My AI as the tool is “prone to hallucination” and can be tricked by users to say “almost anything”. In addition, they are encouraging users to submit to the developers any answers that may come across as weird, inaccurate, or just inappropriate.
Only Snapchat Users Will Have Access to My AI Initially
The feature will only be available to Snapchat+ users for now. The subscription to this program costs $3.99 per month and, apart from this new benefit, gives the user privileged access to any new features that the platform is introducing.
Snapchat has reportedly fed the AI model with its trust and safety guidelines so it can make My AI a fun and friendly virtual assistant. However, there’s no assurance that, if inappropriately manipulated, the technology could drift apart from its intended boundaries.
Just a few days ago, the company announced the launch of a new feature called Sounds Sync for Camera Roll that allows users to use a combination of up to 20 photos along with audio tracks from the platform’s Sound Library to create videos. In addition, the platform will offer audio recommendations for many different “lenses”, which work similarly as filters.
The inclusion of artificial intelligence on Snapchat is not a surprise as the company has been quick to embrace some of the most revolutionary trends that are sweeping the tech industry such as augmented reality (AR). In this regard, Snapchat reported recently that roughly a third of its user base is already engaging with its AR features. The firm also recently hit a new milestone as it grew its monthly active users (MAUs) to 750 million.
Some other platforms that have also incorporated OpenAI’s generative AI into their products include Quora, which recently released an AI hub where users can interact with many of the most popular AI models out there to find answers.
In addition, tech titans including Google and Microsoft (MSFT) have recently launched AI-powered versions of their flagship search engines that have been scrutinized by both professional developers and a selected group of customers who have already flagged several weaknesses such as the chatbot becoming a bit unhinged when the accuracy of its statements is put to question.
The Use of Generative AI is Still in Experimental Phase at Best
For all companies at this point, the use of AI is an experiment that may turn out to be a great addition to their existing products or something they may eventually discard if customers report too many issues with the responses they get.
OpenAI has not officially provided access to an application programming interface (API) to all companies but it appears to be partnering with a handful of well-established businesses to provide them with access to their popular solution.
Thus far, ChatGPT is considered one of the fastest growing applications of all time as it harnessed over 100 million monthly active users (MAUs) in a matter of two months according to data from Swiss bank UBS.
This is possibly the most appealing aspect of the technology that has pushed companies to embrace ChatGPT. Even though they may not fully believe that this is a trend that will last for long, they can easily add it to their core product and take advantage of it for marketing purposes.
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