Technology is beginning to take over everything in this day and age. Every industry is beginning to incorporate technology in some shape or form. In recent years, it has been observed that artificial intelligence services has become a well-known topic that everyone is discussing. The concept of educating computers or software to think like humans is known as artificial intelligence. This is abundantly evident in software applications such as the infamous Chat GPT. It is given a prompt or a question and must respond appropriately. It can complete jobs and compose essays much like a person.
Recently, many of the top companies are fully dedicated to using AI technology and the most notable feature which is starting to be popularized is the AI chat. introduce
Snapchat embraces AI
AI is becoming so advanced that it is now creating art and visuals based on the preferences of the user. Midjourney is an AI programme that takes an image description and begins to create high-quality artistic images that perfectly depict the user’s description in a couple of seconds.
These businesses are attempting to employ automated AI software to speak with their consumers in order to assist them and answer any issues they may have.
Snapchat is attempting to include both of these recently implemented capabilities in its software.
My AI is the artificial chat they created to interact with the user. It works the same way as all the other chatbots. It helps users answer any of their general questions. Snapchat is using AI image generation tools to generate different kinds of professionally beautiful selfies.
Overall, Snapchat is embracing AI and taking it seriously. It is a critical step towards achieving necessary technological improvements.
Snapchat’s Revenue and Competition: The Need for Change
Last year, Snapchat noticed a significant decrease in its overall revenue totalling $1,068 million, down from $1,111 million. Losing revenue made the company decide to ride along the AI train striving for success. Most of the financial problems are caused by a lack of ad revenue. This is why the new AI features are accessed through in-app purchases to try to compensate for the losses.
It is predicted that Snap’s competitor TikTok is going to give a tough fight with its AI Chat called Tako which is expected to phenomenally increase its revenue, while Snap’s revenue is estimated to decrease even after their new AI functionalities.
Snap saw how other companies gave attention to AI and achieved success such as the Apple Tracking Transparency project which allows the user to know if any company is tracking his actions using their software application.
Extra Shots: Why are Companies Investing Heavily in Artificial Intelligence?
Using AI in any company is always a promising idea as it gives them a gateway to the future of technology. It gives more exposure to the business because more users from the technical world will be interested in the technology used even if the company is not related to any of the technical services or products.
AI offers a variety of services to make the user’s experience easier and more exciting. The user will think that it is more interesting if they’re asking questions to a chatbot instead of a real customer service worker.
It reduces the number of workers required in certain fields which will save the company from unnecessary expenses. AI is good at doing repeated tasks because of the automation advancements done by computer scientists to improve its performance, it can replace some workers at certain companies.
It allows more ad sponsors who are interested in future technological advancements and are ready to invest in ads related to new AI features.
Generative AI Tools: The Future of Image Generation
AI image generation is one of the most remarkable achievements of the artificial intelligence field as it creates art that can be compared with professional artists by today’s standards. How does it work?
For the software to create such an image, there are certain steps it needs to follow. First, it needs to understand what the user’s description means. Thanks to a huge language model dataset and machine learning technology that was used to train this model, the software gets access to most of the words used by the user to describe their image of choice. The model turns the keywords into a numerical format named vector. Once the software understands the user’s input, it applies another machine-learning technique called diffusing. There is another huge dataset, but this time it is for images. The software uses the vector from the first step and takes random noise from images in the dataset to create the generated image. Then, diffusion is applied to turn this noisy image into a beautiful artistic image by denoising it.
Snapchat’s Generative AI Selfie: Dreams
Snapchat took the idea of image generation and put it into use. The software takes a selfie image and generates up to 8 different images with unique imaginative backgrounds using the AI technology. Each generated Image is called Dreams.
This feature is a paid service now available in the Australian and New Zealand versions of the application, and it will transfer to other countries in the next couple of weeks.
Cost of Snapchat’s AI Dreams: Frequent users will be granted access to a free pack of eight Dreams. For Snapchat+ subscribers, they will have a free pack each month to freely use. Although Snapchat is looking promising for taking this leap into AI, TikTok may be destined to win against them with their AI chat project, Tako.
Snapchat’s Generative Lens AI’s Feature: Anime
There is another feature in which Snapchat has invested. It is another generative AI Lens filter called Anime. You can take a selfie or record a video and it will switch the people inside into anime characters. It offers different generated backgrounds and environments to choose from and it presents the users inside the selfie as anime characters. It is a similar feature to Dreams as both generate backgrounds and they change the look of the character in their way.
Brownie Point: Dreams is a paid package, while Anime is a free filter found inside the explore option in the effects tab.
AI Chats: How Do They Work?
Notice that many of the top companies now have a chat feature. Nowadays, every company has some sort of chat feature to help in answering the user’s inquiries. Some of these applications are not necessarily AI-driven, but the feature is there for the user’s convenience and to make their experience navigating and using the application more professional. With the impressive start of OpenAI’s new chat feature, ChatGPT, which offered a huge technological advancement in the AI software field, we started noticing more companies adapting and investing in AI because they noticed that it is the future of technology.
Snapchat is no different, so they decided to create their chatbot called My AI to keep up with modern technological advancements. My AI is powered by GPT-3.5 technology which is the same technology used by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The technology used is the closest Snapchat could get to the latest GPT-4 technology.
My AI: Snapchat’s New AI Chat Bot
My AI is still considered a noticeable achievement because of how useful it can be. Just like many AI-powered chatbots, My AI can do almost everything it is requested to do. It can answer any type of question and can even give advice or recommendations for anything such as dining places, workout plans, or even best places for trips near you. It even writes content and helps in doing specific tasks such as programming. It is what you can expect from an advanced AI chat.
ASSESSING ACCURACY: HOW RELIABLE IS SNAPCHAT’S MY AI?
Unfortunately, just like any software, the AI chat comes with its issues. It can answer questions with a certain bias in mind and sometimes it gives incorrect answers to the questions, so, it is always advised by the companies implementing AI chat to warn the users of the issues that can be encountered when using the chat.
“As with all AI-powered chatbots, My AI is prone to hallucination and can be tricked into saying just about anything,” Snap said in their news release about My AI. “Please be aware of its many deficiencies and sorry in advance! All conversations with My AI will be stored and may be reviewed to improve the product experience. Please do not share any secrets with My AI and do not rely on it for advice.”
In short words, there are risks involved in using the AI chat feature and it is advised for parents to explain the privacy issues that can be caused by using Snapchat. Yet, the chat can help them answer some interesting questions and it can be fun to play around with.
User’s guide for Snapchat’s My AI
Snapchat is available on the following platforms: Windows, Android, and IOS. It can also be accessed from any system that has a browser.
The My AI Entry can be opened once the App is opened on the top left corner. To access My AI, swipe to the right from the camera screen to open the left-side menu. Press the My AI option to open the chat and use it.
To use My AI chat, simply type anything into it and it will respond accordingly. Try to ask it a trivia question. After it answers the question, you can ask a follow-up question related to the same topic of the original question just like most of the AI chat programs.
WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS CAN MY AI ANSWER?
- Answering Trivia Questions: The chatbot can answer the user’s questions related to any topic. Keep in mind that the answers can lack accuracy and correctness depending on the topic the user chooses to ask about. It can also contain a certain bias when answering.
- Asking for Advice: My AI can be used to give recommendations on a certain topic. Type questions about the topic needed and My AI will answer accordingly. It can even ask questions to clarify the user’s needs and give them proper professional recommendations.
- Playing Games: It is not an intuitive feature, but My AI offers to play games with the users. If there is a game the user wants to play and can be played with the AI, it will accept the user’s request. It can even recommend a certain game, such as 20 Questions if the user is not sure what they want to play with the AI. It is a fun feature to pass the time and entertain the user.
- Creating Content: This chatbot is powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. It can generate content just like any GPT-powered chat application. The user can ask for any type of content such as poems, articles, or blogs. The chat will not disappoint, and it will give the user whatever type of content they ask for. After the content is created, the user can ask the chat to edit the content according to their needs by placing requests to the chat.
- Recommending Places and Locations: To enable this feature, Snapchat needs to have access to the location of the device. It can be enabled from the Snapchat application setting on the mobile phone. Try asking the AI chat to recommend places to eat near you and it will gladly respond to the request.
- Finding Snapchat Lens: The AI can recommend a Snapchat lens for the user the try out. You can also ask the chat to recommend a certain type of lens by describing it to the chat.
- Using It in a Conversation: The AI chat can be tagged in the middle of a conversation between you and another person to ask it a question or ask for guidance about a topic of interest. By using the @myai tag, you can ask it a question related to the conversation you were having with your friend.
Conclusion
AI technology is being used everywhere nowadays. After all, it is the future of all the tech companies out there. Snapchat decided to invest in the future by giving attention to new and modernized AI software.
AI Dreams is the generative AI Snap invested in to turn selfies into AI-generated images with custom backgrounds. Powered by Open AI’s ChatGPT, Snapchat decided to create their My AI chat project to give users a fun and interactive experience with the application. Although they are trying to increase the company’s revenues, it is hard to see them outcompete the top companies such as TikTok. Overall, it is nice to see companies invest in new technological advancements.
Check out the latest news on technological development offered by Cogent. We present complete access to a concise view of the new IT world.