Snapchat released, in February 2023, a chat GPT powered bot you can conversate with known as Al bots. From answering trivia questions to even solving your homework, this bot sure can do a lot! Users are concerned with their privacy, wondering if it’s even safe. 

The AI bot allows you to send snaps of whatever you wish to them, and they send what they think of it. We’ve experimented with the bot, sending a couple of snaps of our face, and the AI bot responded with, “Nice selfie! Did you get your good side?” It’s frightening how the computer generated bot is able to scan your face and be able to respond to that. Would you be able to say to someone that you’ve gotten a compliment from a robot? We can!

Besides the compliments, are the “You’re so pretty!” statements just to mask the fact that the ‘one second responder’ robot is not a way for them to obtain your information? Once downloaded onto your Snapchat app, the AI is automatically placed at the top of your friends list, reminding you that they’re always there. On top of that, removing the bot is an infuriating process. You have to manually remove it yourself in a hefty process, as there is no simple click of the button to get rid of it. 

As high school teenagers ourselves, we noticed that the majority of Snapchat users are apart of Gen Z (the main form of communication used for teenagers as of 2023) 

Wayne Hills students voiced their opinions on their experiences with the Snapchat bot…

Student Joely Ortiz from Wayne Hills High School said… “I’m very upset about it. I think it’s giving STALKER and I think whatever the heck it is, why does it respond so fast? If I ask it, what’s ten times ten, it responds not even like two seconds later. I ask where it lives and it tells me. I don’t understand where this information is coming from, and it scares me. It tells me it knows where I live, it knows my age, and honestly it’s creepy.”

Genna Calton, another student from Wayne Hills High School, has a scary story to tell! “I think it’s creepy because I asked it where I lived thinking it wouldn’t know, and it tells me I live in Wayne, New Jersey! It lies to me. I asked it where I lived again, and it said it didn’t know. I decided to ask the AI what its name was, and it gave me a name. It said its name was Eli and she was from San Francisco California and that her real username was Eli_Virtual. I asked what its name was again and it said it was MyAI.”

Ana Kruiser, a student at Hills, has a different opinion on AI… “I do agree it is helpful for some work that you may be struggling in, but not to do anything bad.. just to check off your work. I don’t use it though”

Now the question is voiced; Should the Snapchat AI bot be removed, or is it a quicker and more reliable way to obtain information rather than using internet browsers like Google? Opinions are Technology is getting more advanced every single day, and having your own Snapchat AI buddy might just solve that burning problem. The Snapchat AI answer reads, “It depends on what type of information you’re looking for. If you’re looking for general information, an AI bot can be a quick and reliable way to obtain that information. However, if you’re looking for specific or detailed information, it’s better to ask a real person who has expertise in that area.”