How to get rid of my ai on snapchat
Getting Rid of AI on Snapchat: A Guide for the Privacy-Conscious
As fun and novel as Snapchat's augmented reality lenses can be, the advanced artificial intelligence powering many of the latest filters is making some users uncomfortable. From AI-generated makeup to surroundings-adaptive animations, these high-tech lenses demonstrate impressive yet unnerving capabilities when it comes to processing our faces, voices, and environments.
For those of us looking to limit our exposure to AI analytics, Snapchat does provide options to cut back on or completely remove the AI lenses. Here's a full rundown on taming the AI involvement in your Snapchat experience.
Understanding Snapchat's AI Integrations
Before disabling anything, it's worth clarifying exactly which Snapchat lenses rely on artificial intelligence processing versus simply overlaying graphics or visual effects. The AI-driven lenses tend to be the ones that can:
Detect and follow your facial movements and expressions to apply makeup, distortions, etc.
Map animations or graphics onto your body positioning and motions
Recognize objects, animals, or scenery in your physical surroundings
Modulate or synthesize your voice based on audio input
While these AI capabilities create a fun, interactive experience, they do require capturing and processing your camera and microphone data to function. For many of us, that's a privacy line we'd rather not cross, even if Snapchat claims the processing happens locally on your device.
Disabling All Lenses Entirely
For a completely stripped-down, lens-free Snapchat experience with no AI whatsoever, you can easily turn off lenses altogether:
Navigate to your profile page by tapping the user icon and then tap the gear icon to access Settings. Scroll down and toggle off "Enable Filters" and "Enable Lenses" under the Filters & Lenses section.
This nuclear option will prevent any lenses or filters from appearing when you go to take a snap or record a video. No AI, no animations, no flower crowns - just you and your camera.
Keeping Non-AI Lenses While Blocking AI
If you'd still like to use Snapchat's simpler graphics, color filters, and non-AI lenses, you can choose to disable just the AI-powered ones:
Again go to your profile, Settings, Filters & Lenses, but this time tap "Lens Setup." Here you'll see a list of all the current lenses. Uncheck any lenses that have "[AI]" specified in their descriptions.
Unfortunately Snapchat isn't always consistent about clarifying which lenses use AI processing. You may have to do some Googling around ambiguous ones if you really want to ensure no AI is sneaking through.
Curating Your Own Lens List
For those who want a middle ground between disabling everything and scrutinizing each lens, Snapchat provides a "Lens Explorer" for browsing and hand-picking which specific lenses you subscribe to.
Access Lens Explorer from the camera screen by tapping the smiley face icon and selecting "Explore Lens." Here you can browse the available lenses, both AI and non-AI. Tap the plus icon to subscribe to any lens you want - this curated list will be the only ones that appear when you go to snap.
This option is a bit more work than simply cycling through Snapchat's rotating blast of lenses, but it does allow you to cherry-pick an AI-free experience if desired.
Do Snapchat Lenses Really Threaten Privacy?
The concerns around Snapchat's AI integration are understandable as the capabilities of this technology continue growing more powerful and potentially invasive. However, it's debatable whether the current crop of lenses poses any major privacy risks.
Snapchat has been transparent that their AI does process your visual and audio data to enable the AR effects, but maintains this processing happens entirely on-device rather than ferrying your data to any corporate cloud storage. They also allow users to opt-out of AI processing as
My AI removal (with restrictions):
If you have Snapchat Plus: This is currently the only way to truly access My AI from your chat feed. Here’s how to do it:
Swipe right on the camera screen to access Chat.
Long press in the My AI dialog.
Click on "Chat Settings".
Select "Delete from Chat Feed". This hides My AI, basically keeping it out of sight.
Without Snapchat Plus: This setting doesn’t completely remove My AI, but you can save past interactions:
Open a dialog with My AI.
Click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
Select "Conversation Schedule".
Select "Clear from Chat Feed" to remove that chat history.
Remember: Even with this step, my AI still shows up in search results in Snapchat.
Other points to consider:
Data erasure: My AI saves data from your interactions. To delete this data (past conversations and other possible contacts):
Go to your profile icon.
Scroll down to "Privacy Controls"
Click "Delete Data" and then "Delete My AI Data." This won't erase all of My AI data, but it's a start.
