Snapchat is launching a new chatbot called "My AI," powered by the latest version of OpenAI's ChatGPT. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel believes that AI chatbots will become a part of many people's daily lives. Initially, the bot will only be available to Snapchat Plus subscribers for $3.99 per month, but the company plans to make it accessible to all 750 million monthly users eventually.
The goal is to make talking to AI a part of daily messaging, just like talking to friends and family. At launch, My AI is similar to ChatGPT, but with restrictions. It has been trained to adhere to Snap's trust and safety guidelines and cannot give responses that include swearing, violence, sexually explicit content, or opinions about controversial topics. The company plans to keep improving My AI as more people use it and report inappropriate answers.
Unlike OpenAI's own ChatGPT interface, My AI has no tips or guardrails for interacting with the bot. It is designed to be another friend inside Snapchat, not just a search engine. The company hopes that this distinction will prevent the bot from giving wrong answers or being emotionally manipulative.
Snap is one of the first clients of OpenAI's new enterprise tier, called Foundry, which allows companies to run the latest GPT-3.5 model with dedicated computing designed for large workloads. Spiegel says that Snap will likely use LLMs from other vendors besides OpenAI over time and that it will use the data gathered from the chatbot to inform its broader AI efforts.
My AI could be a boost to the company's paid subscriber numbers in the short term and could open up new ways for the company to make money. However, Spiegel is cautious about revealing his plans for the future. Snap is struggling, but My AI is a major investment area for the company, and Spiegel believes that it's the beginning of a future in which everyone talks to AI like it's a person.
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