The AI race is getting more and more competitive with each passing day. So, Snapchat decided to buckle up and introduce a slew of GenAI features that will redefine the way it approaches AR (Augmented Reality) content on the platform. So, what are these new features set to bring to the social media platform? Let’s take a look!
Snapchat took to an official post to not just declare that these features are “coming soon”, but also give us a look at how they work. For starters and possibly the most interesting feature of the lot, Snapchat will allow users to make use of textual prompts to create custom lenses.
Snapchat showcased how three different people changed their regular getup to a 50s sci-fi film using the upcoming lens feature. Most importantly, the AI model this feature uses runs “in real-time on mobile devices”.
While Snapchat has already had GenAI-powered features like Dreams, AI Pets, Bitmoji Backgrounds, and Chat Wallpapers, AI Lenses joining the pack certainly lets the service have another tool in its AI arsenal.
That’s not the end of it though, and Snapchat is also bringing GenAI Suite to its Lens Studio 5.0 release. For those unaware, Lens Studio (Download) is a PC tool that allows you to create custom lenses from scratch. As Snapchat states,
This suite of tools supercharges AR creation by saving weeks to even months of time creating new models from scratch, making it possible to build high-quality Lenses faster than ever.
Using these new tools, creators can “generate custom ML models and assets to power their Lenses.” Additionally, Snapchat has also teamed up with the National Portrait Gallery of London to bring “iconic portrait styles” to custom lens creation. a
The new Lens Studio update brings new features like Face Effects that let users use either text prompts or upload an image to drastically change it using GenAI. Then, there’s also Immersive ML that lets users apply a layer of face, body, and background transformations to further enhance the aesthetic appeal of images.
Will Snapchat Lenses Finally Be Interesting Again?
While Snapchat has a lot of wacky lenses and strangely aesthetic lenses like the Butterflies Lens, they don’t bring anything extraordinary to the table anymore. There’s only so much you can squeeze out of them. But, with the new GenAI Lens update, I’ll certainly find myself using Snapchat Lenses all over again.
Besides, with these new features, there will possibly be no end to experimentation and finding new things to do. I just hope that, unlike Dream, the feature works as intended and doesn’t take forever to deliver results.
With that being said, what do you think of Snapchat’s upcoming GenAI features, and which is your favorite of the lot? Do let me know in the comments down below!
