Snapchat has become the first social media giant to integrate a ChatGPT-powered chatbot into its app, and the email platform calls its new feature "My AI."
According to Snap, the new chatbot runs the latest version of OpenAI's GPT technology (its GPT-thirty-five model) and is an "experimental feature" for subscriptions to Snapchat Plus subscribers (a service that costs $XNUMX). / € three hundred and ninety-nine € / AU € five hundred and ninety-nine per month).
So what can you do? Given the many recent examples of flaws in Microsoft's Bing ChatGPT search engine, Snap has wisely incorporated security measures by training it to "avoid biased, incorrect, harmful, or misleading information." It is also primarily designed to help you organize your social life and up your Snapchat game.
Here are just a few examples of things My AI can help you plan your journey, advise anniversary gift ideas, suggest dinner recipes, and for the Japanese verse enthusiasts, "compose a cheese haiku for your befuddled friend." cheddar cheese." Sure enough, it all feels a bit more familiar than watching Bing have an existential crisis.
However, Snap also prepares for failures and has already apologized in advance (opens in a new tab) for the noises of My AI itself. He claims that "my AI is prone to hallucinations and can be tricked into claiming pretty much anything", which sounds alarming. Snap also tells users to "be aware of its many shortcomings and apologize in advance" for any potential glitches.
Unlike Bing's ChatGPT-powered chatbot, My AI is customizable: you can give it a name and also customize the wallpaper for your chat sessions. But despite that cute exterior, the AI assistant is probably wrong: Snap notes that you can long press on any post to leave comments to help guide you toward better behavior.
Analysis: A taste of the social chatbots to come
The arrival of a ChatGPT-powered assistant on Snapchat isn't nearly as surprising as an equivalent feature on Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, or TikTok would be; After all, Snapchat is only XNUMXth on the list of social networking sites. a new tab) in terms of overall active users.
But it does give us an interesting idea of how ChatGPT (or equivalent chatbot technology) could be integrated into some of the most popular apps on the planet. Imagine, for example, an equivalent partner in Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp groups. Meta recently announced (opens in a new tab) its "big next-generation AI language model called LLaMA", so it could happen.
The advent of chatbots on social media and email apps also raises privacy issues. Snap would like to emphasize that "any and all conversations with My AI will be saved and can be checked to improve the product experience", and you must not "share secrets with My AI" or "rely on it for advice".
These are all great disclaimers that show where we're at with AI chatbots – while they're fun sidekicks that might work well in the likes of Snapchat, they're also a far cry from the all-knowing sages they claim star.