The Snapchat AI has been happily living at the top of everyone’s chat list for a month now. Whether you like it or not, team Snapchat hasn’t really given us much choice in having a robot friend right above all our real friends.
What is Snapchat’s AI?
Dubbed “My AI,” The chatbot is designed to be helpful to users as well as being a voice you can talk to about whatever, whenever. It uses the same Open AI software as ChatGPT, and it does have its uses when it comes to answering general trivia and coming up with ideas for gifts and so on.
A lot of people have already been making full use of it in their everyday lives by sharing the conversations online. Some of these interactions are equal parts hilarious and terrifying on both sides as some users mock the AI and are just generally mean to it, whilst others have found it to be capable of lying – and in some instances – encouraging users to break the law.
Obviously, this is a rather big cause for concern in regards to the safety of the new feature, especially when you consider that there are kids who use the app. Snapchat may have done what it can to make sure that My AI avoids controversial or harmful responses, there have still been numerous cases and examples that prove that it is just not ready to be rolled out across the entirety of the user base.
In one instance, verified by The Washington Post, the AI gave advice on how to mask the smell of alcohol and pot to the columnist posing as a 15 year-old. And this isn’t the only time this has happened; people have found that the AI can frequently turn to talking about inappropriate topics without much encouragement.
How do you get rid of it?
Needless to say, many want the choice to remove Snapchat’s latest feature to be added, but currently there isn’t really much of an option to do so. There is only one way of getting rid of My AI and unfortunately most people won’t be able to do it as it requires you to be a Snapchat + subscriber. Snapchat + gives users access to “exclusive experimental and pre-release features” for a monthly fee. But most importantly, it allows users to remove My AI.
If you do have Snapchat + then here are the steps you need to take to get rid of the AI.
- Got to the chat screen and hold down on your AI’s chat.
- Select the chat settings.
- Select clear chat from feed.
If you’re not a subscriber, the option in the last step will not appear for you meaning you’re unfortunately stuck with the AI unless you’re willing to pay. Hopefully in the future, Snapchat will provide that option for its entire user base as it should be something that can be switched off, for safety purposes more than anything.
Until then, we’re all just going to have to keep ignoring it. Or maybe you could try convincing it to delete itself from your chat; might be worth a shot.