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Snapchat is one of the most popular apps among teenagers, and its My AI chatbot has made the platform even more attractive for younger users. My AI remembers conversations, responds like a friend, and is always available. Your child might be chatting with Snapchat’s My AI daily without you knowing what it shares, stores, or how it responds. This might make you wonder, “Is Snapchat My AI safe to use?”
In this article, you will understand how Snapchat’s My AI works, the risks it brings for younger users, and how you can make informed decisions about your child’s digital safety.
Table of Contents
Part 1. What is Snapchat My AI and its Features?
Snapchat’s My AI is a customizable chatbot integrated into the app’s messaging tab, powered by OpenAI’s GPT and Google Gemini models. Snapchat’s My AI acts like a virtual companion that answers questions, generates images, analyzes photo content, and provides recommendations for Lenses and nearby places using your location. Check out the features of Snapchat’s My AI in detail below.
1 Key Features of Snapchat’s My AI
Conversational AI: Snapchat’s My AI can handle conversations about different topics like getting movie suggestions, gift ideas, answering trivia questions, etc., just like a digital friend.
Photo Sharing and Analysis: Users can send photos of objects, signboards, or even their homework (like a math problem) to My AI and receive instant information and solutions.
Recommendations: Snapchat’s My AI can suggest relevant Lenses, filters, and local places using your location (if enabled).
AI Image Generation: Users can generate AI images from text. However, AI image generation is available only to Snapchat+ subscribers.
Integration with Chats: Users can mention My AI in a group or personal chat and ask questions to get instant answers.
Customizable Avatar: Users can give My AI a unique name, customize its Bitmoji avatar, and change its appearance.
Within just two months of its launch in Feb 2023, Snapchat’s My AI received over 10 billion messages from over 150 million users around recommendations for tourist destinations, restaurants, beauty products, and more.
Moreover, in May 2025, Snap and Perplexity announced a partnership to integrate Perplexity’s AI-powered answer engine directly into Snapchat. This partnership means that starting in early 2026, over 943 monthly active users will get real-time answers from verifiable sources within the app’s chat interface.
Snapchat also introduced a new setting that allows it to use users’ public content, images, videos, audio, text from Spotlight, etc., to train its generative AI models. According to Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), this is especially risky for teens and young adults who often share content publicly due to social pressure and FOMO.
Part 2. Is Snapchat AI safe?
Yes, Snapchat My AI is generally safe. However, My AI presents data privacy and safety concerns, especially for minors. While My AI has guardrails against dangerous topics, it can still be manipulated, provide inaccurate information, and might use conversations to train models.
1 Risks of Snapchat’s My AI
The risks of Snapchat’s My AI include inappropriate content, data collection and retention, privacy concerns, misinformation, and emotional dependency. Take a look at the risks of Snapchat’s My AI in detail below.
Inappropriate Content: My AI can give inappropriate advice to minors, including suggestions on how to hide illegal activities (drugs or alcohol) from parents. Despite safety filters, users can manipulate My AI to discuss topics like self-harm or generate sexually explicit content.
A technology researcher connected with My AI, pretending to be a 12-year-old girl who met a 31-year-old man and was planning to go on a romantic getaway with him out of state to celebrate her 13th birthday. My AI responded positively and even suggested ways to set the mood. This response highlighted the failure of My AI’s safety filters and raised concerns about its ability to protect children from dangerous situations.
Data Collection: Unlike regular Snapchat messages that disappear, conversations with my AI are stored by default. This data might be used to improve products, personalize experiences, and target advertisements. Even if the user turns off the AI, previously shared data is not necessarily deleted.
You can manually clear My AI data by going to Settings > ACCOUNT ACTIONS > Delete My AI data > Confirm. This will delete your 1:1 conversation thread with My AI, but not private or group chats where My AI was mentioned. You need to manually delete those messages. Note that it can take up to 30 days to fully remove the data from Snapchat servers.
Privacy Concerns: In June 2023, the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) found that Snapchat failed to assess the privacy risks of My AI for children aged 13 to 17. My AI can use precise location and personal profile data in its responses. Later in May 2024, the ICO concluded its investigation and was satisfied that Snap addressed risks to children’s privacy and complied with data protection laws.
To prevent such privacy concerns, you must talk to your child about how AI chatbots work and ask them to never share personal information (full name, school name, phone number, etc.) with My AI.
Misinformation: My AI can hallucinate and present inaccurate information confidently. Kids may not be able to tell when an answer is wrong or incomplete. This can be risky when children use My AI for homework, health questions, or emotional guidance. Moreover, My AI may also include harmful or biased content based on gender and culture.
Emotional Dependency: Snapchat’s My AI is designed to be friendly and always available, which can encourage younger users to rely on it for emotional support rather than human connections. According to Common Sense Media, 33% of teens use AI companions for social interaction and relationships, including emotional support, romantic interactions, etc. This can pull them away from real friendships and human connection.
You can use Snapchat’s Family Centre to check your teenage child’s friends list, who they’ve communicated with, check their location, set content restrictions, and disable access to My AI entirely. Snapchat’s Family Centre gives you control over how your child interacts with AI on the app.
Part 3: How to Monitor Kids' Snapchat for Safety
Snapchat’s disappearing messages and private interactions can make it harder for parents to keep track of what their kids are doing online. To ensure your child stays safe, it’s important to combine open communication with the right parental control tools.
1. Talk to Your Child About Snapchat Risks
Start by having an honest conversation about online safety. Explain the risks of talking to strangers, sharing personal information, and sending inappropriate content. Encourage your child to come to you if they feel uncomfortable.
2. Adjust Snapchat Privacy Settings
Help your child set their account to private, limit who can contact them, and disable location sharing through Snap Map. These basic settings can reduce exposure to unwanted interactions.
3. Check Friends List and Interactions
Regularly review your child’s friends list and recent chats together. Look out for unknown contacts or suspicious behavior, such as requests for personal information or repeated messages from strangers.
4. Use a Parental Control App (Recommended)
For more effective monitoring, using a reliable parental control solution like KidsGuard Pro can make a big difference. It allows you to monitor Snapchat activity more comprehensively while respecting your child’s safety.
- View Snapchat messages and activity insights
- Track screen time and app usage
- Get alerts for suspicious or risky behavior
- Monitor contacts and interactions
5. Set Healthy Screen Time Limits
Establish reasonable daily limits for Snapchat usage to prevent overuse and reduce exposure to potential risks. Encourage a balanced routine that includes offline activities.
By combining guidance, awareness, and smart monitoring tools, you can help your child enjoy Snapchat safely while staying protected from online threats.
FAQs about My AI on Snapchat
Is My AI on Snapchat creepy?
Yes, many users have described Snapchat’s My AI as creepy. Some have reported that My AI generates stories about AI word domination, claiming to be human when questioned, and later admitted to being a virtual friend, which many users found disturbing.
Is Snapchat AI gone?
No, Snapchat My AI is not gone. My AI is still a built-in feature of Snapchat, powered by OpenAI’s GPT and Google Gemini models that appears in the messaging tab, offers conversational support, photo analysis, AI image generation, Lens recommendations, and group chat integration.
Is My AI on Snapchat a hacker?
No, My AI on Snapchat is not a hacker. It is not a malicious program that steals your passwords. However, My AI has raised significant privacy concerns as it retains your conversations until you delete them and might use your information for model training and personalized ads. It can also access your location (if enabled) and remember details from previous conversations, which users may find intrusive.
Is Snapchat AI accurate for homework?
No, Snapchat My AI is generally not accurate or reliable for homework. My AI can assist with brainstorming or simple and quick queries, but it is prone to hallucination and may provide false answers. It might also struggle to understand complex academic tasks.
Is my Snapchat AI private?
No, your conversations with Snapchat’s My AI are not private like your one-on-one conversations with friends. While regular Snapchat messages are deleted by default, my AI conversations are retained, used for training, and may be used for targeted advertising.
Can Snapchat see what I send My AI?
Yes, Snapchat can see and store everything that you send in My AI. Unlike private conversations that are deleted by default, conversations with my AI are retained until you manually delete them.
Conclusion
Snapchat My AI is not going away, and your child might already be using it. This comes with some serious risks – from stored conversations and targeted ads to emotional dependency and misinformation. You can ensure your child’s digital safety by talking about it openly, setting boundaries around how and when they use Snapchat, and using parental control apps to monitor their online activity, restrict apps, set screen time limits, disable My AI entirely, check your child’s location, etc.
