Recently, Snapchat’s “My AI” chatbot popped up on our phones, generating a ton of buzz. For a while, my TikTok feed was full of videos of people purposely asking the AI dumb questions, telling it shocking things — for example, saying they had supposedly murdered someone — to get a reaction and more. While these videos are funny, I haven’t seen any videos about the ways the AI chatbot can actually be helpful. I acknowledge that at times, it is not the most practical tool, as it does not fully comprehend human nuisances and simply cannot understand certain instructions. However, I have found a few beneficial ways to make use of it. So, here is a brief overview of some of the useful ways I’ve been able to employ my Snapchat AI. 

“What are some fun summer activities?”

While some of the AI’s ideas (amusement park, BBQ) were not exactly up my alley, many of the others (beach day, road trip, farmers market) were actually helpful. I probably could have thought of them myself, but it was convenient to have a whole list printed out for me so that I could choose which ones I wanted. I also like that I can always ask the AI for more ideas to add to whatever list I ask it to make.

“What are some healthy lunch ideas?”

I actually found this one to be very useful! Ideas such as a brown rice bowl and hummus with veggies helped me make a few lunches I really enjoyed. It also suggested a salad, which was an obvious choice, but I decided to combine that with the hummus and veggies suggestion for a delicious hummus crunch salad. I guess maybe you could call that human-AI collaboration?

“Give me a few songs that are similar to ‘Riptide’ by Vance Joy”

This one was great; it suggested songs such as “Budapest” by George Ezra and “Home” by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, which I have now been playing on repeat in the car. It suggested a few songs by The Lumineers that I liked (such as “Ho Hey” and “Stubborn Love”), as well as others that I didn’t as much (“Angela”). But again, I was able to pick the ones I wanted and discard the ones I didn’t, which was really useful.

“Make me a summer playlist”

This was a spin-off of the previous question that was also useful, and I now have a playlist of songs I both have and haven’t heard before that have a great summertime vibe, such as “Island in the Sun” by Weezer and “Summertime” by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. 

Overall, while some of the suggestions my Snapchat AI gave were not the most useful or suited to my tastes, I was able to easily customize my choices to get the most out of its suggestions. I recommend everyone try this out — ask for a list of ideas or songs and see if you, too, are able to use your Snapchat AI in your everyday life.