There’s no doubt AI, specifically ChatGPT, is all the rage right now. It’s never been easier to try out AI technology without paying a dime. However, there’s still a barrier to entry, however small, that might keep some from dipping their toes in the next big thing in tech. Snapchat might’ve just changed that, bringing its ChatGPT-powered AI bot to all users around the world.
What’s is Snapchat’s “My AI?”
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Snapchat’s AI bot, called My AI, actually launched in March as a Snapchat+ exclusive. If you’re among the supermajority that doesn’t pay for Snapchat, however, you might not have known about this feature at all.
Like many AI tools available these days, My AI runs off of OpenAI’s GPT API, the underlying tech powering ChatGPT. That means, for Snapchat’s 375 million daily active users, My AI might be the easiest and most accessible way to access ChatGPT-like artificial intelligence. I think that’s great, but perhaps teachers and professors across the country will not.
You don’t need an OpenAI account, nor do you need to know anything about tokens or payment plans. All you need to do to access AI is to open Snapchat, tap “My AI,” and ask it just about anything. You can request an essay on the French Revolution, a snippet of code for building a simple game of Pong in Java, or a dinner schedule for the week. Truly, the limit with My AI, as with all GPT-based AI programs, usually rests with your creativity.
Because it’s built into Snapchat, there are in-app perks to using My AI, as well. Chief among those is the friendly nature of the AI. Snap clearly designed the experience of My AI to be more like texting a friend. ChatGPT is a bit neutral (maybe even cold), while My AI is excited and interested in you. You’ll have no problem striking up a conversation, and fast. It asked me how my day was going, and responded to my message of “Not too much! Work and such,” with “Ah, gotcha. What do you do for work?” Did I lie to my new chatbot friend? Yes. Did I have fun pretending I’m actually a full-time chef? Also yes.
It reminds me a bit of messaging the AIM bot SmarterChild, even if My AI is a lot smarter than that child was.
In addition, you can send My AI snaps, and have the AI respond with a text message. You can also call upon My AI in group chats whenever you want: Just type “@My AI,” and you can request something of your AI bot for the whole group to see. Finally, you no longer need to text your friends screenshots of your favorite interactions with ChatGPT to properly annoy them with AI.
How to use My AI to access ChatGPT in Snapchat
My AI will show up at the top of your chats when it rolls out to your account. After accepting the terms and conditions, you can get right to chatting. But Snap wants you to make My AI your AI. If you take a look at My AI’s “bio,” you can customize it, creating an avatar like you would for your own Snap account. You can even give it a new name, like SnapGPT. (You can have that one for free.)
There are still some Snapchat+ exclusives with SnapGPT—er, My AI. Snap says it will soon roll out an ability for My AI to respond to your snaps with a “snap” of its own, likely featuring your custom AI avatar in an appropriate pose based on the context of your snap. Whether that’s worth Snapchat+’s $3.99 per month (or $29.99 per year) price tag is up for debate.