Snapchat launches a ChatGPT-powered My AI chatbot

Image: Snap

Snapchat gets an in-app chatbot powered by the latest version of OpenAI's ChatGPT. The My AI chatbot will be pinned to the app's chat tab above the conversations with friends. It's coming first to Snapchat Plus subscribers, with the eventual goal of bringing it to all of Snapchat's 750 million monthly users. It isn't designed to be a search engine. Instead, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel envisions it as another service you can chat with daily aside from your friends and family.

As The Verge noted, My AI seems like the fast mobile-friendly version of ChatGPT but inside Snapchat. But it is a more restricted version, with Snap training the chatbot to adhere to its trust and safety guidelines. It will not give responses that include swearing, sexually explicit content, violence, or opinions on hot-button topics like politics. It's also taken out the option to write academic essays. Snap plans to keep tuning My AI as more people use it.

Snapchat's Director Mode brings familiar, advanced video editing tools

If you use apps like TikTok, BeReal, or Instagram's Reels feature, you'll find the new Snapchat Director Mode familiar. Snap recently rolled out this mode to all iOS users and some Android users. (A full rollout on Android is coming in the next few months.) It adds filming and editing features like a green screen, which lets you record videos with a different background; dual camera, which was only previously available on iOS; quick edit, which lets you trim and splice multiple videos together; and a camera speed feature to speed up and slow down videos.

Director Mode is accessible through an icon on the main camera toolbar. You can use it to share content with your friends, but the new tools come as Snap tries to promote its Spotlight feature. Spotlight is Snapchat's answer to TikTok, which it is heavily promoting for creators to use.

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Snapchat finally gets a web app

Source: Snapchat

Snapchat has succumbed to introducing a web version of its app. It has been around for Snapchat+ subscribers since July, but now you don't need to pay extra for it. You can access it through web.snapchat.com. You won't get the full app experience, though. 

It lets you take snaps (with or without lenses), send these to individual friends or group chats, and start video or audio calls. But you can't view Snap Map, Stories, Discover, Spotlight, or your snap archive. You also can't open snaps on your computer. Yes, even if you can send them. Right now, it seems Snap wants you to use the web experience more for conversations than accessing the full suite of features.

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Snapchat rolls out its BeReal-type feature

Source: Snapchat

As BeReal gains popularity, we're starting to see its feature trickle into existing social media apps. Snapchat is the latest app to offer what's made the app enticing—the option to share what's happening in the moment by taking photos with the front- and rear-facing cameras. Snapchat introduced its take first in April as part of its director mode.

Unlike BeReal's minimal feature set, Snapchat gives you more options to play around with, including different layouts for how the windows are stacked and the option to use lenses, stickers, and music. This Dual Camera feature rolls out to iOS users first, with Android getting it in the coming months.

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