According to Cointelegraph, Snapchat has received a warning from the United Kingdom's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) over its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, 'My AI.' The ICO issued a preliminary notice to Snap Inc. and Snap Group, the parent companies of Snapchat, for potentially failing to properly assess the privacy risks posed by the chatbot.
The notice is based on a provisional investigation conducted by the ICO, which found that the risks to several million My AI users, including children aged 13–17, were not adequately identified before its launch. If a final enforcement notice is issued, Snap may be forced to stop data processing in relation to My AI, preventing it from offering the service to UK-based users without an adequate risk assessment.
Snapchat's AI chatbot was rolled out to users of Snapchat+ in the UK in February 2023, with wider availability beginning in April 2023. My AI is powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 technology and, according to the data watchdog, was the first example of generative AI embedded into a major messaging platform in the UK. Major social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Meta, and Google, have also integrated AI chatbot features into their services.
