Snapchat AI Posted Its Own Story

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Part of a series on Snapchat AI. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Snapchat AI Posted Its Own Story refers to reports that Snapchat's My AI chatbot posted a short video of what some believe is someone's wall and ceiling to multiple users' accounts of its own volition. Snapchat AI was also purported to be unavailable to some following the post. The incident took place on August 15th, 2023, resulting in numerous Snapchat users sharing the story online wondering how it happened, also inspiring memes about the situation. Multiple users asked Snapchat AI about the incident, resulting in a variety of answers. Snapchat confirmed that the My AI had an outage on the 15th, but did not immediately comment on the Story post.

Background

Snapchat has an AI-powered chatbot known as My AI that users can chat with and ask for guidance on how to use Snapchat. On August 15th, 2023, Snapchat users began to report that the chatbot shared a video to their Snapchat Story without permission. One of the first reports was made by X^[1] user @meiscollinj on August 15th, 2023 around 9:07 PM, sharing a screenshot of the Story post and writing, "Someone tell me why tf my Snapchat ai is posting Snapchat stories lmaooo," garnering over 2,700 likes in a day (shown below). The image consists of a purple color on top of a yellow color, with some believing it's a photograph of the point where someone's wall meets the ceiling.

That day, numerous X^[4] and TikTok users reported that their My AI posted the same clip. For example, TikToker^[2] @lilythebigreddog posted a video showing the Story post in action, garnering over 340,000 views in a day (shown below). X^[3] user @03imrann posted a recording of the Story, garnering over 7,000 likes in a day.

Developments

As more reports of the Story post appeared online, the media began reporting on the incident on August 15th, 2023, including sites like The Independent,^[5] Mashable^[6] and Complex.^[7] Some reported on Snapchat's refusal to reply to messages after posting the Story. The official @snapchatsupport X^[8] account began responding to users sharing the screenshot of the Story post claiming My AI was experiencing an outage, explaining why it stopped responding.

Several Snapchat users shared posts online claiming that the video shared by My AI was a recording of their wall, showing their wall and ceiling as evidence, although these are unconfirmed. For example, X^[12] user @zerohwaffles posted a video of a Snapchat user making this claim, garnering over 1,000 likes in a day. On the same day, TikToker^[13] @thugloaf made the same claim, garnering over 1.7 million views in a day (shown below).

Online Reactions

As the story spread and the AI went back online, some Snapchat users began asking it about the post and sharing the responses online. For example, on August 15th, 2023, X^[9]^[10]^[11] users @NikMason3, @bladeesangel333 and @daniels_zyquan posted screenshots of chats with their AIs about the incident (shown below).

Many users began posting memes reacting to the incident, some framing it as a sign of AI gaining sentience. On August 15th, X^[14] user @Bubble0Dog posted a meme that garnered over 23,000 likes in a day (shown below). On August 16th, X^[15] user and influencer Tana Mongeau posted, "I’ve said some fucked up shit to the snapchat AI I hope they aren’t a snitch," garnering over 1,800 likes in under a day.