It was only a matter of time before they found a way to use AI agents as corporate shills. On Tuesday, Snapchat launched AI Sponsored Snaps, which is “a new way to showcase brands in chats through AI agents.” Or, in other words, it is interactive advertising. (Wow?)
AI sponsored Snaps will appear in the app’s Chat tab (with a light gray “Ad” notation next to the brand name). After opening the chat, you can ask the agent questions about the brand he represents. Snap showed an example of Experian, its first partner for this initiative. The bot offers answers to your questions on saving money, improving your credit score and – searching for loans and credit cards.
Whether through credit card offers or other means, the AI agent will likely try to guide you toward behavior that makes money for the sponsor. So, it’s not clear why this would be any better for consumers than asking similar questions to a general-purpose chatbot like Gemini or Cloud. Perhaps the answer is as simple as, “It’s not… but they know people will use it anyway.”
“Conversations are becoming the most valuable real estate in advertising,” Ajit Mohan, Snap’s chief business officer, wrote in a press release. “AI is accelerating that change, turning chat into a place where people discover products, ask questions, and make decisions in real time. The real opportunity isn’t just putting ads into those environments, it’s designing formats that fit the way people already talk.”
Snap says more than half a billion people have messaged with its My AI feature since its launch three years ago. This was despite a shaky start, where the bot posed as a young teen telling researchers and journalists how to mask the smell of alcohol or cannabis and how to get in the mood for sex.
<a href