Snapchat makes its first open prompt AI Lens available for free in the US
Snapchat is making its new “Imagine Lens,” the company’s first AI open prompt generation lens, available for free to all users. The Lens initially launched in September, but only to paying subscribers. The Lens allows users to edit their own Snaps using custom prompts or generate their own Snaps.
For example, you can ask the app to “Turn me into an alien” after you take a selfie, or request an image of a “grumpy cat.” The company suggests that you can use the Lens to try out Halloween costume ideas, or to reimagine your friend in a new look, among other things.
The results can be shared with friends, posted to your Snapchat story, or shared outside the app.
The wider availability of the AI Lens follows the launch of AI video-generating apps from Meta (Meta AI) and OpenAI (Sora), which compete for young people’s attention with even more advanced AI tools and features than photo modifications.
Sora, for example, allows users to take videos of themselves after giving the app a one-time video and audio recording to capture their appearance. Friends can share these AI personas, called “cameos,” so they can star in videos together.
That puts pressure on other social apps like Snapchat to keep up, so using the AI imaging lens for free seems like a worthwhile investment for the app maker.
Until now, Snapchat’s AI Lens has only been available to Lens+ and Snapchat Platinum subscribers, the company says. With the expanded rollout, Snap is also making a limited number of image generations available to all free users. Free users in the US will have access to the new Lens at launch, with plans for other markets starting with Canada, UK and Australia.
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The lens is located at the front of the lens carousel in the app, or you can search for it by name. To create something, tap the caption to edit your prompt, or use one of the preloaded suggestions if you need inspiration.
The company notes that Snapchat users access lenses more than 8 billion times a day.
