With the change, Snapchat users will have a five-minute window to rephrase their message, fix typos or otherwise edit their chats. Messages that have been edited will have a label indicating the text has been changed. The company didn’t say when the feature might be available to more of its users, but the company often brings sought after features to its subscription service first. Snap announced last week that Snapchat+, which costs $3.99 a month, had reached 9 million subscribers.

The app is also adding several non-exclusive features, including updated emoji reactions for chats, the ability to use the My AI assistant to set reminders and AI-generated outfits for Bitmoji. Snap also showed off a new AI lens that transforms users’ selfies into 1990’s-themed snapshots (just don’t look too closely at the wireless headphones appearing in many of the images.)

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The feature, which can be found in the app’s “memories” section, begins by asking users to take selfies showing their face at different angles. The app will then creates a series of eight images based on themes like “time travel” or “alternate universes.” Eventually, Snap says, users will be able to create Dreams that include their friends’ likenesses as well.

Dreams is the latest generative AI experiment from the company, which launched its MyAI chatbot earlier this year using OpenAI’s models. (Dreams uses open source tools and internal data, though the company hasn’t provided details about specific partners.)

The feature also highlights how the company is using interest in the technology as a source of revenue. MyAI was initially limited to Snapchat+, the app’s premium subscription tier, before it was released to all the app’s users this spring. The company has since added specialized features for subscribers, including the ability for MyAI to reply to photo Snaps with its own AI-generated images.

Likewise, Dreams will have both a free and paid component. Snap is allowing non-Snapchat+ subscribers to access just one — so use it wisely — “pack” of eight selfies, while subscribers will get access to one pack a month (the company says it plans to update Dreams with new themes and styles regularly). All users will be able to buy additional packs for a $0.99 in-app purchase.

In practice, the images appear to have some of the same limitations as other AI-based image generators. A promotional image shared by Snap showed what appeared to be the tips of partial fingers strangely placed over the subject’s chest. When I tried Dreams to create my own AI selfies, some of the resulting images also had strange-looking hands, though it at least showed the correct number of fingers placed in an anatomically correct position.

Still, I can see how the feature could keep Snapchat users — who have collectively sent more than 10 billion messages to MyAI — coming back. And as tools like Midjourney have moved behind paywalls, Snap’s offerings might just seem like a better deal for those looking to try out generative AI.

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As with previous updates, the new restrictions primarily affect the accounts of 13- to 17-year-olds on the app. Last year, the company began limiting the visibility of teens’ accounts in its “Quick Add” recommendations to limit strangers’ ability to find young people in the app. Now, the company says it will make teens even harder to find in search and recommendations by increasing the number of mutual friends users must have in order to appear in search and suggested accounts.

And, in cases when teens are able to connect with people with whom they don’t share many mutual friends, Snap will surface warnings encouraging users to only interact with people they know. The warning will be accompanied by an option to block or report the user in question.

The company is also introducing a new strike system for accounts that share “age-inappropriate content” in public-facing parts of the app, like Stories and Spotlight. Under the new system, the app will remove posts that it deems age-inappropriate and dole out a strike to the offending account. Users who rack up too many strikes over a set period of time will have their accounts permanently disabled, according to the company.

Snap has also published a new section of its website aimed at parents who have potential concerns about their teens’ use of Snapchat. The site offers several explainers about the app, including guides on how to use its parental control features.

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The milestone comes after the service, which launched last June, crossed 3 million sign-ups in April. That’s still just a fraction of the 750 million people who use Snapchat each month, but it’s a significant number for the company, which has been looking to boost non-advertising sources of revenue. As Bloomberg points out, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has said his “medium-term goal” is to reach 10 million paying users.

Snapchat has used generative AI tools and other exclusive features to lure users to signing up for the $4-a-month service. When the company first introduced its MyAI chatbot and, more recently, its generative AI selfie feature, the tools were initially limited to paying subscribers. Other perks, like the ability to check how many times friends view your Story and exclusive Bitmoji customizations, are meant to appeal to power users.

The relative success of Snapchat+ stands in contrast to X Premium (formerly known as Twitter Blue), which Elon Musk has made a centerpiece of his strategy to revitalize the embattled social media company’s business. X has not formally released subscriber counts, but one researcher, speaking to Mashable, recently estimated the number to be less than one million.

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Information Commissioner John Edwards said the ICO’s provisional findings from its investigation indicated a “worrying failure by Snap to adequately identify and assess the privacy risks to children and other users” before rolling out My AI. The ICO noted that if Snap fails to sufficiently address its concerns, it may block the ChatGPT-powered chatbot in the UK.

However, the preliminary notice doesn’t necessarily mean that the ICO will take action against Snap or that the company has violated data protection laws. It will consider submissions from Snap before it makes a final decision.

“My AI went through a robust legal and privacy review process before being made publicly available,” a Snap spokesperson told Reuters. “We will continue to work constructively with the ICO to ensure they’re comfortable with our risk assessment procedures.”

The ICO says that, as of May, Snapchat had 21 million monthly active users in the UK, with many of those aged between 13 and 17. The regulator pointed out that My AI marked the first instance of a generative AI system being added to a major messaging platform in the country. The feature debuted for Snapchat+ subscribers in February, then Snap enabled it for all UK users in April.

Soon after Snap rolled out the chatbot, parents raised concerns about My AI, and not only over privacy considerations. “I don’t think I’m prepared to know how to teach my kid how to emotionally separate humans and machines when they essentially look the same from her point of view,” a mother of a 13-year-old told CNN in April. “I just think there is a really clear line [Snapchat] is crossing.”

The ICO has issued hefty fines against social media platforms in the past for mishandling kids’ data. It slapped TikTok with a £12.7 million ($15.8 million) penalty earlier this year after determining the platform breached data protection laws, including over its handling of kids’ personal information.

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Following years of trying to broaden from just a platform to send pictures back and forth with friends, the option to embed is a logical next step from Snapchat. It builds on other features like articles and discovering local places of interest and, in 2022, Snapchat for Web.

Along with embeds, Snapchat has also launched an OpenAI-powered feature that lets users extend their snaps to include more of their possible surroundings. The tool is reminiscent of Photoshop's Content-Aware Fill but, in this case, estimates what the entire border area looks like versus one targeted piece. Engadget has confirmed this feature is available for Snapchat+ subscribers.

The company has regularly been using AI tools as perks for its now five million-plus Snapchat+ subscribers. The company's AI-powered Dreams feature — which lets users generate eight packs of "fantastical" images — is limited to one time only for regular users or one set per month for Snapchat+ subscribers. Anyone can buy extra packs for $0.99 each.

Snapchat was quick to hop on the AI boom, rolling out a chatbot called My AI using "OpenAI's GPT technology that the authors have customized" back in February. Initially also available solely to Snapchat+ subscribers, My AI expanded to all global users two months later with everything from restaurant recommendations to photo responses (as has been the case for AI bots in 2023, not always appropriately).

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The milestone comes a little more than a year after Snap laid off about 20 percent of its workforce in an effort to cut costs as advertising revenue slowed. Those cuts, along with new product features, are apparently starting to pay off.

The company reported $1.19 billion in revenue for the quarter, an increase of 5 percent from last year and better than Wall Street analysts expected, according to CNBC. In a statement, Snap pointed to its subscription service, Snapchat+, as a key part of its strategy to grow its non-advertising sources of revenue. Snap announced last month that Snapchat+, which offers users exclusive and experimental features for $4 a month, had reached five million subscribers.

Generative AI has also been a bright spot for the company. The company’s MyAI chatbot, which rolled out to all Snapchat users in April, has reached more than 200 million people who have collectively exchanged more than 20 billion messages with the OpenAI-powered chatbot. Snap said it believes the assistant is one of the “most used AI chatbots available today.”

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In its recently announced third quarter earnings report, the company said that its revenue rose by 5 percent to $1.19 billion after two quarters of decline. However, its ad business has yet to recover, and it warned its investors that advertisers are hitting pause on their social media campaigns due to the current situation in the Middle East. According to Campaign, brands have slowed down their advertising activities on various social networks because of the influx of misinformation regarding the Israel-Hamas war.

This round of layoffs isn’t directly linked to any product, though, and no features or offerings are being discontinued as a result. It’s also much smaller in scale than the company’s layoffs last year, which saw 1,300 employees lose their jobs. That time, Snap also canceled most of its original shows and put its games and mini-apps into maintenance mode.

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“Big Tech’s failure to police itself at the expense of our kids cannot go unanswered,” committee chair Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and ranking member Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said in a joint statement, as Reuters reports. “I’m hauling in Big Tech CEOs before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify on their failure to protect kids online,” Durbin wrote on X.

According to the committee, X and Discord refused to accept service of the subpoenas on their CEO’s behalf, “requiring the committee to enlist the assistance of the US Marshals Service” to serve them personally. “We have been working in good faith to participate in the Judiciary committee’s hearing on child protection online as safety is our top priority at X,” Wifredo Fernandez, head of US and Canada government affairs at X, told Engadget in a statement. “Today we are communicating our updated availability to participate in a hearing on this important issue.”

“Keeping our users safe, especially young people, is central to everything we do at Discord,” a Discord spokesperson told Engadget. “We have been actively engaging with the Committee on how we can best contribute to this important industry discussion. We welcome the opportunity to work together as an industry and with the Committee.”

The issue of tech platforms allegedly facilitating harms against kids has become an increasingly pressing issue. Earlier this month, former Meta executive Arturo Béjar testified that Zuckerberg failed to respond to his email detailing concerns about harms facing children on the company’s platforms. Senators then demanded documents from the company’s CEO “related to senior executives’ knowledge of the mental and physical health harms associated with its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.”

Update 11/20 3:40PM ET: Added Discord’s statement.

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Senator Dick Durbin, chair of the Judiciary Committee, and Senator Lindsey Graham, its ranking member, released a statement expressing their frustration with Snap, Discord, and X's initial refusal to have their CEOs participate and even accept the subpoenas. In Discord's case, US Marshals visited their offices to serve the document.

The senators further shared a feeling of hypocrisy at these platforms wanting a say in policy but fighting against getting involved in discussions. "When we held our first hearing on protecting children online with experts and advocates earlier this year, Big Tech griped about not getting an invitation. We promised them that their time would come," Durbin and Graham stated. "We've known from the beginning that our efforts to protect children online would be met with hesitation from Big Tech. They finally are being forced to acknowledge their failures when it comes to protecting kids. Now that all five companies are cooperating, we look forward to hearing from their CEOs. Parents and kids demand action."

The Judiciary Committee has focused on this issue a great deal throughout the year, approving bills that would force online platforms to take more responsibility in protecting children (and be more transparent in their efforts) and improve reporting of online child sexual exploitation, among other steps. The hearing with the CEOs from the five tech giants was originally set for December but will now take place on January 31, 2024, at 10 AM ET.

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