• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, May 2, 2023

After spending an hour pitching advertisers and media buyers on Snaphat’s unique ability to connect humans in a very personally engaging way, the social media platform offered one last big reveal: a generative AI program likely to replace much of that human interaction.

“I’d like you all to say hello to My AI,” Snap President-Americas Rob Wilk told the newfront audiene, adding: “From right inside the app, every single Snapchatter now has a new partner for curiosity, connection and endless utility.

“Right now, in all of your hands, is the power of conversational and generative AI.”

Wilk went on to demonstrate a commerce application utilizing My AI, asking it to find a restaurant on New York's Upper West Side to host a 10-person birthday dinner.

"My AI will offer recommendations on where to go and even drop a Snap map placecard right into the chat," Wilk said, which was followed by a smattering of applause from the newfront attendees.

"Thank you for starting that, someone's got to do it," he responded.

He then demonstrated a second query, asking My AI to generate a "heartfelt toast" for the birthday celebrant.

"My AI can also help you get unstuck on that too," he said, adding, "Give it a few parameters, like 'Liam and I have been friends for 10 years, he's a great dad, there's no one I'd rather swap faces with on snapchat,' and then boom, you've got yourself a custom, short-and-sweet birthday toast for Liam." (See below.)

"We're just getting started," Wilk said, adding, "but we're testing ways My AI can help bring Snapchatters mobile video, including from some partners in this room, but it's powered by what we call 'conversational intent.'

"Second, we've started testing sponsored links within conversations, within My AI. Our goal is simple, which is to connect with partners that can quickly solve a problem or just make their day a little easier."

To illustrate that upsell potential, Wilk cited the birthday party restaurant recommendation, noting, "Maybe there's a link to a local restaurant helping me to solve my problem with just a tap.

"Or if I was talking to My AI about taking a fun weekend trip, I might received a sponsored link from an airline or a hotel with a special deal.

"We're just getting started, but we're taking our time to build the right, useful -- and again, privacy-first experience -- for our users. And of course, we will run safety checks across all sponsored links to detect any type of policy violations."