If you were thinking of deleting your Snapchat now that you no longer use the embarrassing filters you grew up with, the new Snapchat AI features might give you a reason to hold off on the decision a little longer. In a recent blog post, the tech company gave us a quick glance into the tools it is planning to introduce to the app and there are two main components to the announcement—Augmented Reality (AR) and on-device Artificial Intelligence (AI). With the app’s filters being one of its trademark experiences, it’s no surprise that we’re witnessing Snapchat’s AI-powered tools return to optimize what we can do with our own faces.
Snapchat’s AI advancements haven’t necessarily been monumental in their approach so far, but we understand that there are only so many ways a messaging app can incorporate such technology. Without a doubt, we will always circle back to Snapchat’s next advancement with its filters more than its other features.
Image: Snapchat
Coming Soon: New Snapchat AI Features That Give Filters A Boost
With a commitment to implore its global community to express themselves and explore the bounds of its creativity, Snapchat has been working hard on AI tools to support its ambitions. Most recently, Snapchat’s AI advancements have taken the shape of a real-time imaging model that aims to use AR technology to breathe new life and innovation into the app experience. A video of the AI shows how Snapchatters can take a simple idea, like the prompt of a “50’s sci-fi film,” to record a video that would fit right into a Star Trek rip-off.
The company doesn’t give us any other examples of what the tool is capable of so the introduction is too brief to give us a real sense of how well it works. Still, Snapchat’s AI features are a significant milestone because they involve considerable work to optimize on-device real-time generative AI that can work faster than ever before without weighing your mobile down. This means a quick response to your demands as you rush to send a Snap back and keep your streak alive.
Image: Simplifying the creation of 3-dimensional assets.
Maxing Out Snapchat’s AR Effects for the Creator Community
If you’re part of the creator community that enjoys using Lens Studio to design your own Snapchat AR effects, then the upcoming Lens Studio 5.0 release should be an interesting update. The GenAI Suite of Snapchat AI tools will allow AR creators to design custom ML models for their lenses and speed up the process of turning out the final results. Regardless of how you personally feel about Snapchat, you have to admit that the company has been a pioneer in simplifying the power of Augmented Reality for everyday users.
“Our AR products and services are driving major impact at scale today. On average, over 300 million people engage with augmented reality every single day on Snapchat. Our community plays with AR lenses billions of times per day on average, and our AR creator community has built millions of lenses using our Lens Studio software.”
—Evan Spiegel, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Snapchat, during the Q1 2024 Earnings
Bobby Murphy, Snap’s chief technology officer, told Reuters “What’s fun for us is that these tools both stretch the creative space in which people can work, but they’re also easy to use, so newcomers can build something unique very quickly.” Using Snapchat’s AI tools like the PBR material generation function, users will be able to speed up the process of bringing up meshes and 3D assets with a simple prompt, without having to spend hours structuring it themselves. The Snapchat AI features included in the Lens Studio will be supported by an AI assistant that can help individuals explore the suite of services more easily to best reflect the vision they had in mind.
To further promote Snapchat’s AI-powered tools, the company has reportedly partnered with London’s National Portrait Gallery to create lenses that reflect some popular portrait styles. Using these filters, users can submit their snaps and add them to the “Living Portrait” projection wall in the museum. It’s quite a unique way to get Snapchatters to try out their filters.
Image: Snapchat
Are Snapchat AI Tools Safe to Use?
If you’re among the section of the population that looks at someone in horror to ask, “You still use Snapchat??” then the new Snapchat AI features are not targeted at you, but there is a significant section of the population that still does use the app. Either from nostalgia or to goof around with the comical filters, there are a lot of people who turn to the app and unfortunately, this includes younger kids.
Snapchat states “We implement safeguards designed to help keep generative AI content in line with our Community Guidelines, and we expect Snapchatters to use AI responsibly. “ The company’s terms of service are very clear about their stance on the misappropriation of generative AI, but how that extends to the regulations on the creative suite remains to be seen. Every time we add AI to a platform, the question of just how much freedom is available to creators comes up due to fear of the misappropriation of these tools and services. The exact restrictions and guidelines on the creative liberties that creators can take are something we’ll see unfold over time.
For now, the company does have some privacy and security measures in place to keep it safe so the Snapchat AI features should be safe to use as is, however, the company can always be more explicit about its guidelines around the new applications of AI.
Snapchat AI tool “My AI” Has Not Been Well Received
Snaptchat’s own AI chatbot, powered by ChatGPT, landed in hot water on release last year when the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) launched a “preliminary investigation” into the tool. The investigation was concluded with the ICO satisfied by the company’s compliance with data protection laws, but the doubt hasn’t fully left the minds of users. When the AI chatbot was released, the app’s average U.S. App Store reviews fell to 1.67 according to TechCrunch. To get rid of the chatbot, you had to have a Snapchat Plus subscription.
With 75 percent of one-star reviews, users were very vocal about their dislike for the AI and Snapchat’s decision to make it impossible for users to turn the chatbot off. Now was this due to privacy and security concerns? That remains unclear. Many have criticized the AI for serving no purpose and being too regulated, making it more robotic and lifeless than you’d expect from an AI pretending to be a “friend.” What we do know is that Snapchat’s AI features that stray away from improving filters have not been welcome in the past.
Snapchat’s AI advancements are commendable and from the looks of it, they have quite a following of users who still experiment with filters and their Lens Studio. The advancement of such tech may feel frivolous for a messaging app, but improving 3D rendering technology could lead us to tools that have many uses outside of the app.