March 31, 2025 – Snapchat Unveils “My AI” Chatbot, Sparking Controversy Among Users and Parents
On the 27th of last month, CNN reported that Snapchat had rolled out its “My AI” chatbot to all users. Powered by the popular AI chat tool ChatGPT, “My AI” offers similar functionalities, including answering questions, providing advice, and engaging in conversations with users. However, unlike ChatGPT, Snapchat allows users to customize the bot’s name, design a Bitmoji avatar, and integrate it into chats with friends.
This personalized design has made interactions with “My AI” more intuitive, but some parents argue that it also makes it easier for users to forget they are communicating with an AI, not a human.
Lyndsi Lee, a mother from East Prairie, Missouri, prohibited her 13-year-old daughter from using the feature just hours after its launch. She expressed concerns about the potential impact of “My AI” on young users, particularly her daughter, within the Snapchat platform.
Not only parents but also some Snapchat users have expressed strong dissatisfaction with the feature. Many have left negative reviews on app stores and complained on social media due to privacy issues, “bizarre” conversational experiences, and the inability to remove the feature without paying for a premium subscription.
US Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat, has written to the CEOs of Snap and other tech companies, expressing concerns about how this chatbot interacts with young users. He specifically mentioned reports that “My AI” teaches children how to lie to their parents.
“Such situations on any social media platform are disturbing, but the problem is more severe for Snapchat, as nearly 60% of American teenagers use it,” Bennet said. “Snap seems eager to involve American children and teenagers in this social experiment, even though it knows ‘My AI’ is still in the experimental stage.”
After the official launch of “My AI,” many Snapchat users expressed concerns. One user described their experience as “frightening” because “My AI” first denied knowing their location but later accurately stated that they lived in Colorado when the conversation shifted to a lighter topic.
Other users felt uneasy about how “My AI” handles photos. One Snapchat user wrote on Facebook, “I took a photo, and it not only commented, ‘Nice shoes,’ but also asked me who the person in the photo was.”
ChatGPT has previously been criticized for spreading misinformation, providing inappropriate responses to users, and facilitating cheating among students due to its training on vast amounts of data from the internet. Snapchat’s integration of “My AI” may exacerbate these issues and even introduce new concerns.
