Snapchat recently dropped a new feature in April 2023 and they call it “My AI.” It is considered a bot on snapchat that you can text and ask for advice, help, things to do, places to eat, or “someone to talk to when you feel lonely.” Snapchat also has a feature called Snapchat plus where it allows wallpapers, pinned best friends, customizing the app, bitmoji features, etc.
Only people who buy Snapchat plus are allowed to unpin AI from the top of their snapchat account. 

Snapchat released this bot for people to be able to have real conversations that feels almost like talking to a real person. Is it a real person? As soon as AI released people posted on Twitter, Facebook, and Tik Tok about AI being able to track their location, even when their location services are turned off. People are starting to question who is on the other side of the screen when messaging this bot. For example you could ask “Food near me” and AI would respond “Food in Eaton, Colorado.” The bot then glitches when replying “How do you have my location?” and says, “I don’t understand that yet!” This feature is making people stop using snapchat to prevent being tracked. 

Almost 60% of Snapchat’s users are teenagers and the AI bot has parents worrying about their safety. Hailey Pribble is a junior at Eaton High School and she is a snapchat AI user. Pribble said, “I like the bot because it’s like my personal portable therapist and 10/10 recommended. It can also help you with literally anything. But there is also a side to it I’m not sure about, which is the location and privacy side.” Pribble finds AI helpful, but she understands the frustration it is causing to users. 

There have also been stories of Snapchat’s AI taking people’s voices off the videos of their memories and sending threatening calls to parents, friends, etc. using the user’s voice. It is not proven that AI is the one doing this, but there have been multiple incidents since the bot was released. Morgan Flynn has a strong opinion against the bot. Flynn said, “I think it’s creepy and we should be allowed to remove it off of our Snapchat without buying the Snapchat plus. It is not a good update and I think it’s irrelevant.” Users are agreeing that Snapchat is going downhill with their updates.