Snapchat AI shenanigans caused by glitch not sentience, says company

The introduction of Snapchat’s AI – called ‘My AI’ – has already been met with resistance and controversy, and new reports from multiple users about the chatbot taking videos without permission could add fuel to the fire.

Several users took to social media to share stories of the Snapchat AI taking videos of their ceilings and walls without any input from them, and then posting the clip as a live Story to all their followers. These are actions that should only be available to human users, not AI, which is what set alarm bells ringing.

Some users on X, formerly known as Twitter, shared their thoughts on the issue, with some seeming to be worried, while others made light of the turn of events. CNN reported on other users sharing their concerns as well. “Why does My AI have a video of the wall and ceiling in their house as their story?” wrote one user. “This is very weird and honestly unsettling,” said another.

A spokesperson from Snap Inc. responded, confirming that the issue, which they said was quickly addressed, was just a glitch. “My AI experienced a temporary outage that’s now resolved,” according to the statement Snap gave to TechCrunch.

Snapchat announced its ChatGPT-powered AI chatbot service back in February 2023, which proved to be an unpopular move once it launched on April 20 of the same year. For instance, how to delete Snapchat Google searches increased to a staggering 488% worldwide by April 26. And the company itself warned users not to trust this feature with private and sensitive information or to provide users with accurate information in return, according to its own Snapchat Support page.

The AI wall 

While AI chat can be a fun and sometimes useful tool when used correctly, incidents like this are a reminder that the tech behind it is still in its early stages. And even more troublesome is the fact that companies are releasing this tech into the wild, knowing that it still has plenty of kinks to work out.

This isn’t the first time that a company has rushed out AI features that weren't ready for prime time – Google Bard’s launch saw employees mocking it, with even Google CEO Sundar Pichai admitting that it was like a “souped-up Civic” taking on “more powerful cars.”

And this definitely isn’t the first time suddenly implemented AI features garnered backlash from its user base – Discord had to backtrack on its reworded privacy policy regarding AI implementation and data collection.

It seems to be a wall that companies constantly hit against in their race to integrate AI features into their websites and services. And it seems that as long as the AI craze is still going strong, we’ll keep seeing this same scenario repeating.

You might also like

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

YouTube’s Snapchat sharing feature sounds cool – but is it just a gimmick?

YouTube's latest social feature is letting users share videos to Snapchat as stickers. If you liked a video that a friend or family member might be interested in, you can immediately share it via Snapchat in the form of a sticker slapped onto the snap.

The social feature, available on both iOS and Android smartphones, pulls up the Snapchat app when you select it from the 'Share' menu on a YouTube video. A handy box containing the video's thumbnail and title will appear on your snap. And after you've taken a photo, you can adjust the thumbnail's size, angle and location on the snap. Then, when you've sent your snap to a friend, they can open the YouTube video by simply tapping the link embedded in the thumbnail.

The new sharing process eschews the need to directly copy a link from YouTube for pasting into Snapchat. Instead, one tap of that Share button is all you need to transfer the video to your snap, with all info and the link contained in one convenient snippet.


Analysis: Improvement or gimmick?

Snapchat YouTube sharing

(Image credit: Snapchat)

Within the confines of Snapchat, this new YouTube video-sharing feature sounds great. It requires fewer taps and link management and means Snapchat doesn't have to rely on your clipboard for copied content. Being able to customize the embedded video's placement, size, and angle is nice, too. But are Snapchat users really going to be impressed by this feature, and more importantly, will people use it?

The real issue here lies in whether or not Snapchat is the most convenient social platform with which to share YouTube videos. While this overhaul to sharing YouTube videos via Snapchat is an improvement, it's really just a nifty addition to what is still a cumbersome process.

You still have to create a snap to host the YouTube snippet. That in itself could be a decently lengthy process, depending on your own preferences and attention to detail when it comes to taking snaps. In this case, it would be much quicker and easier to simply share a YouTube link through more conventional social platforms, like Whatsapp, Discord, or even Twitter and Facebook depending on the group of contacts you wish to reach.

It's still a win for avid Snapchat users, of course, especially those who use it as their primary social platform. We can even see there being some particularly creative uses of this YouTube video sharing feature. One example that comes to mind would be an online merchant taking a snap of their product and inserting a YouTube snippet that the user can open and learn more about the product.

Therein lies what we feel is the biggest issue with this update. It's harmless, and definitely doesn't detract from the Snapchat experience. However, it's also very situational, will work better for some more than others, and isn't something we see a swathe of Snapchat users flocking to in order to share their favorite YouTube videos with friends. There are quicker ways of doing that, even if those methods aren't quite as fun or creative.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More