With bots like ChatGPT and MyAI blooming everywhere, it sparks a question: is AI getting too out of hand? In the last few weeks, the new Snapchat update was added to everyone’s phones, and many users got a message from a bot named “MyAI ” saying, “Hi (your name). I’m your new AI chatbot. You can ask me anything and I’ll do my best to help. Is there anything I can do for you today?” This new AI can answer questions, give you advice, write a poem, and even analyze photos you send and reply with a response. You can name MyAI whatever you’d like and even change its Bitmoji appearance.
Many students aren’t in favor of Snapchat AI. Sophia Lo Re ’26 stated she was uncomfortable when she “asked the AI as if it knew where I lived and somehow it did … I feel like it’s a huge waste of time and energy, and it’s creepy.” Lo Re continued, “I think it’s creepy [that AI is becoming this accessible] because kids are really young, and they could be telling them all of their personal information thinking they’re their friend.”
Daniel Sorokin ’23, the president of the Cyber Security Club agreed, saying, “The Snapchat AI tried to gaslight me [by] telling me [that] it didn’t have image processing, even though I sent it a photo of bees, and it could tell what they were.”
Lexi Konzelmann ’26 partially disagrees: “I think it’s a good resource sometimes, but if [kids are] using it unsafely, it becomes a problem.” Konzelmann enjoys chatting with MyAI and thinks that “it’s cool that the more you talk to it, the more advanced it gets, and it can give you responses that sound human.” Even though Konzelmann enjoys talking to MyAI, she initially had some reservations. She said she had seen a news story like this one, which described an AI (not Snapchat) cloning the voices of family members, then calling loved ones telling them they need a large sum of money as soon as possible.
On the other hand, Arianna Bulatov ’26 didn’t have any doubts, and commented, “I always thought it was just generated answers, not really a person behind the screen.” Bulatov feels neutral about the bot: “I tried the bot a little to test it out, and I asked it some random questions to see how it would respond, and it was pretty funny.”
Even though MyAI mostly affects students, even teachers have some opinions, like Lower School coding teacher Rachel Kaplan: “I think there’s a lot of exciting things and potential about AI, but I think we need to be very careful about how it’s being used. [AI technology] is moving very quickly so it’s scary if we don’t slow down and set restrictions [on how accessible AI is becoming.]” Even though she has some reservations, Kaplan has used AI for things like “fun filters and asking [the AI] for advice on lessons.” To educate her students more on technology, Kaplan has also started having conversations with her students about what AI does, how AI is being used worldwide, and where AI might be in the future.
As technology advances more and more each day, Kaplan is confident that “[AI] will become a staple and everyday resource for humans in the future.”
