The makers of Snapchat announced a series of new AI features coming to the app at its annual Snap Partner Summit on Tuesday, most notably that the app's My AI chatbot has been updated to respond to more complex snaps and behave more similarly to Google Lens.
For example, you can take a photo of a foreign menu and send it to My AI to have it translated into English, or you can take a photo of a plant and send it to the chatbot to find out its name.
You can also take a photo of a parking sign and send it to the chatbot to instantly know if you can park in a particular spot.
A similar feature was first made available to mobile users by Google Lens.
Image credit: Snap
The release is another sign that Snapchat is trying to make My AI more of a useful tool, rather than just an entertainment feature. A few months ago, Snapchat rolled out a feature that allowed users to set in-app reminders and countdowns through My AI. The new features announced today add even more useful functionality to the chatbot, as Snap strives to get users to open the social app when they have a specific search query.
In addition to the My AI update, Snap also announced that the “My Selfie” feature will enable AI-powered editing of Memories (saved snaps) for Snapchat+ Premium subscribers. The feature will be used to jazz up existing snaps by adding captions and lenses to snaps stored in your Memories archive. For example, if you save a photo of yourself to Memories, Snapchat may add a lens on top of the photo to recreate you as a Renaissance painting.
Image credit: Snap
Additionally, you can now opt-in to appear alongside your friends in AI-generated images — for example, the app will create an AI-generated snap of you and your friends as lawyers or Olympic swimmers.
Snapchat also announced that it will be releasing AI-powered lenses that will let users see what they'll look like in the future, which seems like Snapchat's answer to TikTok's popular age-flip filters.
Elsewhere in the app, Snapchat revealed that it's rolling out improved HD video calling and Snap Mail, which lets you leave snaps for friends who miss their calls. The app will also start showing your local time zone in chats, making it easier to know when to connect with friends around the world.