Snapchat unveils Generative AI Lenses and AR enterprise services

Despite Facebook and TikTok dominating social media, Snapchat remains a key player in the industry as well. With over 750 million users, the social media app is often known as the pioneer of visual communication and ephemeral messaging.

In fact, Snapchat has been around for more than a decade and was initially dominating social media with its creative video lenses that enabled augmented reality (AR) to be mainstream. With competition increasing, the company continues to innovate its offerings, providing better services to its users.

Today, Snapchat’s camera makes storytelling easier and enables anyone to express themselves and become a content creator. 86% of young Americans want to create content and 90% of Gen-Z is already on Snapchat.

With AR and artificial intelligence now at the core of most social media apps, Snapchat is also ensuring they are keeping up with the demand of their users. As such, at the Snap Partner Summit 2023, several major announcements were made, giving users a lot more tools to enhance and improve their content on the app. Here are some of the key announcements made.

Generative AI Lenses

Snapchat unveiled a new generation of Lenses powered by Generative AI. Available globally, Snapchat users can now transform themselves and the world around them into an animated sci-fi scene through the Cosmic Lens.

At the same time, as Snapchat has millions of Lenses available, they’re now making it easier for users to personalize their Lenses for the right shots. This includes recommending Lenses that fit with the context of a photo or video captured. Through a combination of visual understanding of what’s in the camera’s view and APIs that understand factors including the local weather forecast and time of day, Lenses are dynamically surfaced to match the moment.

MY AI

MY AI is Snapchat’s AI-powered chatbot that is available to Snapchat+ subscribers. The feature sends out nearly two million chat messages per day. New features in MY AI announced include personalized Bitmoji variations and also capabilities of bringing MY AI into conversations with other users. Other features include recommendations on Snap Map and Lenses as well as sending Snaps to MY AI and receiving a chat reply.

Since launching My AI, Snapchat has also worked to improve the technology by:

• Programming My AI to adhere to our community guidelines to help protect against responses that could be inappropriate or harmful.
• Implementing a new age signal using a Snapchatter’s birthdate, so the chatbot will consistently consider their age.
• Adding additional moderation technology, which will allow us to assess the severity of potentially harmful content and temporarily restrict Snapchatters’ access to My AI if they misuse the service.
• Preparing to incorporate My AI into our in-app parental tool, Family Center, which will allow caregivers to see if their teens are chatting with My AI and how often.

AR Enterprises Services (ARES)

Apart from commercial use, Snapchat is also empowering enterprises by allowing businesses to make the most of their technology. In what is the first offering for retailers, Shopping Suite has already shown success for businesses to improve brand loyalty, decrease product return rates, and differentiate in a competitive environment. Businesses can provide shoppers with new ways to check out products in 3D, try on apparel and accessories in AR, and receive fit recommendations with AI.

Shopping Suite is made up of five features, including 3D Viewer, AR Try-On, and Fit Finder to make it easier to shop with confidence and allow retailers to make AR creation and management simple, fast, and cost-effective.

AR Mirrors

Another new ARES service announced is AR Mirrors. AR Mirrors bring the power and creativity of AR to businesses in their own physical spaces and events, so that customers can virtually try on products, play with engaging and fun experiences that encourage them to create and share content and receive helpful guides and explanations to learn more about the products they see in the store.

Retail brands like Men’s Wearhouse and Nike have already used AR Mirrors to enhance the in-store experience, and Snapchat currently has its AR Mirror in a Men’s Wearhouse store to get shoppers ready for prom and wedding season.

Snapchat is also partnering up with Coca-Cola to transform a vending machine into an entirely new product experience. The prototype is an AR-enabled Coca-Cola vending machine, which offers a portal to incredible AR experiences, rewards, and more. Shoppers can step up to the machine and use hand gestures to control what comes next.

Monetization Programs

Snapchat also announced that creators who have at least 50,000 followers, 25 million monthly Snap views, and post at least 10 Stories a  month may be eligible to join their Stories revenue share program. The Spotlight reward program is one of the ways Snapchat continues to support the community of aspiring and emerging creators as they turn content creation into a career. Snapchat is also increasing the total rewards available to reward creators for making the top Spotlight Snaps.

With generative AI and AR capabilities in Snapchat, the social media app is definitely upping its presence in the competitive social media market.

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