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‘It shouldn’t have the capability to do that.’
The in-app digital assistant, My AI, which is part of Snapchat Plus, has encountered multiple breakdowns and technical malfunctions since its launch in February. On Tuesday, the chatbot exhibited unusual behavior by posting single-second-long Stories to users’ feeds, despite lacking the capacity to do so. As a result, Twitter users speculated about the possibility of the Singularity.
According to TechCrunch, the My AI chatbot posted a two-tone image in Stories, leading one user to mistake it for a picture of their ceiling. When questioned about the mysterious post, the bot either remained silent or claimed to be experiencing a technical issue. This explanation failed to satisfy many users, causing some minor panic and jokes about the AI system’s potential awakening.
However, it was eventually confirmed that the issue was indeed a technical glitch. A spokesperson assured TechCrunch that the temporary outage had been resolved and clarified that My AI does not possess the Stories feature.
As part of the $3.99/month Snapchat Plus package, the My AI bot offers various features to users. These include AR filter recommendations, suggestions for popular restaurants and activities based on the Snap Map, AI functionality in group chats, photo and video snaps, text messages, and even an AI persona. Snapchat is also reportedly developing a text-to-image genAI feature, although advertisements have already been introduced.