Snapchat was the first social media app to integrate conversational generative AI, via its ‘My AI’ chatbot, and today, Snap has published a new overview of the most common questions that have been posed to the bot, along with some new usage stats, and notes on how My AI data will be used to improve its algorithmic matching.
As per Snap, more than 150 million people have now sent over 10 billion messages to My AI, which puts it among the largest consumer chatbots available today. The hype around conversational AI has no doubt helped boost interest in My AI, which Snap is now using as a tool to gather more insight about individual user interests, with a view to both improving the tool itself, and Snap’s broader offerings. Including Snap ads.
As per Snap:
“We’re able to use conversations with My AI to enhance a key optimization that we offer advertisers, called Snapchat Lifestyle Categories (SLCs). These categories are historically based on factors like which content a Snapchatter watches. New signals from conversations with My AI will now help us enhance the quality and depth of SLCs, ultimately boosting the relevance of the ads Snapchatters see on the app.”
Not sure that My AI users would be overly impressed to see their chats used as data to fuel ad targeting, but it could help Snap improve its contextual reach. If a user is asking questions about travel, for example, Snap could use those cues to target them with travel ads.
Snap also notes that it’s currently testing sponsored links in My AI results, as another way to reach Snapchatters who’ve shown interest in certain products via their queries.
It’ll be interesting to see how My AI questions actually reflect buying intent, and how beneficial they might be for ad targeting, and it could end up being a valuable pathway for Snap, and others, to improve their data collection process. Which, given the more recent restrictions on user data, through various changes, could be a big benefit.
Here’s an overview of some of the most common queries posed to My AI thus far:
