Snapchat users complained that the messaging app's AI chatbot had some troubles on Tuesday night. Many users were concerned after My AI posted a mysterious Story on its profile and ceased responding to text messages.
It started responding to all chat messages with the same standard response: "Sorry, I encountered a technical issue." The unique episode sparked mixed reactions, with some reacting with anger while others had a moment of laughter. While several people voiced real concern, others welcomed the chance to lighten the mood. Memes circulated, and tweets mocked the idea that the AI had attained sentience and was set to grab control.
One user posted a screenshot of his conversation with My AI and captioned it, “Snapchat AI?! Apology accepted”.
Another user posted a screenshot of their conversation with My AI “my snapchat ai was fine until i mentioned the stories :///”
One user from Texas tweeted, “So my AI on Snapchat posted a snap story and it freaked me out so I deleted the app.”
One user from Florida shared, “Me and my Snapchat AI are friends again, and he says sorry.”
A Snapchat spokesperson said that My AI had certainly experienced an outage and claimed that the problem had been fixed quickly.
Several Snapchat users also stated that 'My AI' is not working properly. While attempting to use the My AI feature, users received error messages claiming that it is either busy or suffering technical difficulties.
Snapchat's 'My AI' is one of the platform's initiatives to integrate artificial intelligence into its messaging service, with the goal of improving user interactions and experiences. However, recent occurrences have spurred debate about the potential consequences of AI-powered interactions, as well as the necessity for openness and control in such technology.
