Snapchat announces AI chatbot along with new AR features during Snap Partner Summit 2023

The social media platform announced new features as well as changes in its monetisation program for its creators.

In the recently held Snap Partner Summit, the company announced rollout of multiple new features. In an exclusive interview to ET, Evan Spiegel, CEO and cofounder, Snap Inc, shared that Snapchat doubled its user base and engagement in India in the last year. The app estimated user base in India stood at 100 million in October 2021 and it has doubled since then. Spiegel also shared that the company plans on investing more in India across new business verticals.

Users of the platform can now call other users on the platform. With the new Calling Lenses that can allow to connect over video call, play games and solve puzzles while they are virtually face-to-face.

The brand has been running My AI, a AI-powered chatbot, for its Snapchat+ subscribers. The platform also announced My AI's global rollout with new features. Users can now design custom Bitmoji for their AI, give it a name, and start chatting with. My AI surfaces place recommendations from the Snap Map as well help creators put out content which is visible on these maps.

The chatbot suggests relevant Lenses to users. "For example, you can ask My AI to suggest weekend activities for your family or get the perfect Lens recommendation to wish a friend a happy birthday," the brand informs in a release.

The brand also introduced a new AR Enterprise Services called AR Mirrors. AR Mirrors will allow businesses to utilise AR 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.

Brands that create experiences, such as virtual try-ons and using AR in-store, are 82% more likely to be recommended to others, making AR Mirrors a must-have addition to stores using Snapchat for promotion. 1 Retail brands like Men’s Wearhouse and Nike have already used AR Mirrors to enhance the in-store experience. "We currently have our AR Mirror in a Men’s Wearhouse store to get shoppers ready for prom and wedding season," the brand says.

They are also partnering up with Coca-Cola to transform a vending machine into a different kind of product experience. Their first 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.

The brand also announced that it will make changes to its creator monetisation program. Stories revenue share program places ads within creators’ Stories. The platform notes that creators in an early pilot of the Stories revenue share program are posting more often to Snapchat. The total time Snapchatters spend watching Stories from these creators in the US has more than doubled year over year.

Now, 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 the Stories revenue share program.