Image: © Julien Eichinger/Stock.adobe.com
Snapchat is the latest big name in tech to venture into the AI space, following the likes of Google, Microsoft and Spotify.
Snapchat parent company Snap has announced today (27 February) its own AI chatbot on the social media platform. The new chatbot utilises the latest version of ChatGPT, as part of OpenAI’s new enterprise tier called Foundry, which lets companies run its latest GPT-3.5 model and is designed for large workloads.
The chatbot, called My AI, is being rolled out this week as a feature only available to subscribers of premium service Snapchat+. However, according to The Verge, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has claimed that this feature will eventually be available to all users of the platform.
In a blogpost on their website, Snap have stated that there will be limited customisation available for the chatbot, including giving it a name and customising the chat wallpaper for it. Snap also stated that users should not share sensitive information or ask for advice from the chatbot, as “all conversations with My AI will be stored and may be reviewed to improve the product experience”.
According to The Verge, My AI is similar to ChatGPT, just with more restrictions in regards to answers and functionality, as the chatbot has been configured to align with Snap’s trust and safety guidelines. This means that the chatbot is restricted from giving responses containing “swearing, violence, sexually explicit content, or opinions about dicey topics like politics”, and also cannot be used for academic purposes.
Snap is the latest in a line of tech giants to foray into the AI chatbot space. Just this month, Microsoft, Google and Spotify all announced their own AI features, as the interest and popularity of the technology continues to grow.
However, the technology continues to display frequent issues, such as the recent reports of bizarre behaviour from Microsoft’s Bing chatbot.
Snap has addressed the possibility of issues with the new chatbot with a disclaimer on their website. “While My AI is designed to avoid biased, incorrect, harmful or misleading information, mistakes may occur.”
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