Do you use Snapchat’s AI chatbot? this is the data it’s pulling from you

In April, Snap made its AI-powered chatbot, My AI, available to Snapchat users. The company says that more than 150 million users have spoken to the chatbot. Snap says its AI chatbot is equipped with more guardrails than ChatGPT, making it safer for younger Snapchatters.

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According to StatistaNearly 20% of Snapchat’s global users are between the ages of 13 and 17, so it is important that children are not exposed to inappropriate content that chatbots can output. But in some experimental conversations with the bot, users found Snapchat’s bot will explain how to join underage substance use and sexual activity.

When Snapchatters first started interacting with My AI experimentally, many were curious about the chatbot’s access to their location. When My AI is asked if it has the user’s location, It will immediately deny access to geolocation data,

But if a user asks for a restaurant recommendation in their area, My AI can provide them, proving that the bot has access to Snapchatters’ location. People took to Twitter to express that they were concerned with My AI and curious about what user data the bot could access.

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So, what data does My AI collect and what does Snap do with it?

Place

My AI can access your location if you allow Snapchat to access your location. Snap says that My AI does not collect any new location data from you and only pulls from the data you provide to Snapchat.

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Some users enable a Snapchat feature called Ghost Mode that allows you to hide your location from your friends and remove you from the Snap Map. However, Ghost Mode doesn’t ensure that My AI can’t access your location. Snap says that if you’ve allowed location tracking to Snapchat, My AI can access your location even when Ghost Mode is on.

Conversations

Snap stores your conversations with My AI until you manually delete them, but it can take up to 30 days for your conversation data with My AI to be removed from Snapchat servers. Snap uses your interactions with My AI to train AI models and better target you with personalized ads.

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Snapchat’s privacy policy states that all Snaps are deleted from Snapchat servers after all recipients have viewed them. But Snap clarifies that chats sent to My AI don’t follow this guideline and are only deleted if you request Snapchat to delete them. It should be recognized that Snap retains any audio or photos you send to My AI and can only be deleted if you do it yourself.