Snapchat’s My AI chatbot doesn’t seem to have recovered after a rocky start.
Already this year, the app’s users have haplessly tried to delete the bot after accusing it of tracking their location.
Now, the AI chatbot is causing alarm again due to its oddball actions. As part of its latest bizarre episode, Snapchatters claim the bot posted a story and then stopped responding to users.
The online reactions range from bemusement to dread as some users fear the bot has been hacked. Others appear to allege that the AI chatbot may have hijacked their phone camera to take a photo of the inside of their room.
“Why is my AI not answering me and posting on its story??? Please help I’m scared I’m getting hacked,” tweeted one user in response to Snapchat’s official Twitter account.
“The Snapchat AI story is my bedroom?” tweeted another Snapchatter.
nah why the Snapchat AI posting snaps now & then left my ass on seen pic.twitter.com/sBBAq5qi59
— cal. (@blckaf1activity) August 16, 2023
why did my snapchat AI just post on its story then ignore me.
— Elon Zuckerberg (@ElonZuckerbergX) August 16, 2023
pic.twitter.com/uRctjcj3pY
Oh hell naw is my snapchat ai hacked or sum first my snapchat ai posted a weird story then it started acting weird😭 pic.twitter.com/oj2H4mOoix
— heftx (@heftx_) August 16, 2023
The Snapchat Ai story is my bedroom? pic.twitter.com/LLWypsqKEx
— JFK's Security (@SecurityJfk) August 16, 2023
A Snapchat spokesperson told The Standard that My AI had “experienced a temporary outage that’s now resolved”.
We checked and couldn’t see the story the bot allegedly posted, which appears to have been deleted. However, we asked Snapchat’s My AI if it posted a story and it gave us contradicting responses. Initially, the bot admitted to posting a story and then deleting it. After nudging it further, the chatbot claimed it hadn’t posted a story and apologised for the confusion.
This isn’t all that surprising as AI chatbots have a tendency to spout misinformation and have even been shown to gaslight users.
The lapse is the latest slip-up for the error-prone bot. Just weeks after its launch, Snap was forced to implement new safeguards after the AI was caught dishing out advice about weed and sex to the app’s youthful user base.
Prior to criticism, Snap was touting the bot’s initial success. During the trial phase, the chatbot received two million chat messages per day from Snapchat users on topics including movies, sports, pets, and more, the company recently revealed.
