• by Colin Kirkland , Yesterday

Snapchat’s new “Imagine Lens” marks the social media company’s first generative-AI lens dictated by free-form text prompts, while providing another potential reason for users to pay for Snap’s subscription offerings. 

Snap’s Imagine Lens builds on the company’s 2023 launch of its “Dreams” Lens, which uses AI to generate fantastical image-based alternatives to a user’s uploaded selfies.

However, Snap says its Imagine Lens offers users more freedom for image generation because of users’ ability to type in how they want to alter uploaded photos. 

Per Snap’s announcement, users “can create, edit, and recreate Snaps simply by entering their own prompts” and then “share them with friends, post to their Story, or outside of Snapchat.”

Lens+ or Snapchat+ Platinum subscribers will also see pre-loaded prompts that they can use with the feature.

Over the past two years, Snap has invested in the refinement of its generative-AI technology, across both user-facing experiences and its advertising business. 

In April, the company said that its Sponsored AI Lens ad format eliminated the need for 3D and VFX design, replacing them with AI-generated templates designed to cut down production timelines.

In its latest performance report, Snap said AI advancements had contributed to 7-0 purchase volume increasing 39% year-over-year for commerce brands, with total purchase-related ad revenue increasing over 25% year-over-year. 

Furthermore, in second-quarter 2025, over 400 million users engaged with Snap’s free and paid predetermined AI-generated Lenses more than 4 billion times. 

By introducing and testing an open-prompt lens like Imagine for millions of paying users, the company will likely develop more open-image prompt Lenses, eventually launching them for non-paying users as well.