It's rare that an app completely changes the social media landscape, with TikTok a great example of this in recent history. Strange as it may seem now, Snapchat was one of these revolutionary apps when it arrived on phones over 10 years ago.
While the platform has dwindled in social status over the years, with many viewing it as an app for teens, there's no denying it's ground-breaking legacy - without Snapchat we wouldn't have 24 hour stories on Instagram and Facebook.
However, the latest advancement from the US image-focused messaging app has caused a lot of controversy as Snapchat has now added an artificial intelligence feature called My AI into users chat list.
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Snap Inc says My AI is an experimental chatbot, built on OpenAI's ChatGPT technology, with additional safeguards added by Snap. It added that My AI can occasionally give inaccurate responses, as with all AIs, so may give responses that sound plausible but are impossible or unrelated to the given context.
A lot of people have been calling the AI "creepy" or "scary" as concern was raised about the data it can access, through misinformation online. However, when asking the AI directly, it appears to have very little access to any data.
When The Mirror asked My AI if it had access to personal data, it replied: "As an AI, I don't have access to any of your personal information, including your name, email or date of birth."
It also clarified that it is not able to view your story, as had been claimed by some users. My AI also said Snapchat shares data with "trusted third parties" but added: "They have agreements with these third parties to ensure that your information is kept secure".
So according to the AI it is only able to access the data which you allow Snapchat access to, which includes location thanks to the snapchat map that many used when it was first launched. If you revoke location access, the AI should not be able to recommend restaurants or other locations based on where you are.
On a lighter note, some users have complained that the AI just doesn't function very well - although the nature of artificial intelligence is to improve as it learns.
One complaint was that the AI will tell you the punchline to the joke immediately, which it did in our testing too. When asked to tell us a joke, My AI left no room for us to guess the punchline and in one message said: "What do you get when you cross a snowman and a shark? Frostbite!"
When asked to tell a joke without the punchline, it took a slightly ominous turn and said: "Why did the old man fall in the well" and to which we asked "why" and it responded: "You'll have to wait for the punchline".
When it first launched, My AI was only available to those who paid for the premium service Snapchat+, which parent company Snap Inc claims has around three million subscribers.
My AI is designed as a "virtual friend" which users can message to ask questions, chat about life and go to for advice. You can even give it a nickname like a real human, but Snap support warns not to share confidential or sensitive information and double check information given by the AI.
Snapchat has now rolled out the feature for all 363 million "Snapchatters", but opinions of the AI addition have been split and many are now threatening to leave the app over the development.
My AI now sits at the top of everyone's chat list, even if you get more recent messages, and is not able to be hidden or removed - unless users pay the £3.99 per month for Snapchat+.
While many are testing out the new feature, others are angry at the inability to remove the AI without forking out for the premium subscription. One frustrated user tweeted: "Snapchat need to delete my AI thing - it's scary and literally doesn’t even have the option to be deleted ??"
Another added: "[About] to delete snapchat [until] they let me get rid of this creepy AI that I can't delete or clear from my chats."
"Let me see if I understand. so in order for me to get rid of an AI bot I didn't want in the first place, I have to pay? [At this point I'm just going to] delete snapchat," shared a third.
A spokesperson from Snapchat said: "We appreciate all the early feedback from our passionate community as we continue to improve the My AI experience."
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