Discover Snapchat’s free AI lens, but who else is competing in the generative AI space?

In a demonstration of how social media platforms are racing to embed generative aesthetics into everyday communication, Snapchat has just freed one of its most advanced creative tools to the masses. This week, the company is making its Imagine Lens, the app’s first open-prompt image-generation AI Lens, available for all US users at no cost. Previously available only to paying subscribers (via its Lens+ and Platinum tiers), the Imagine Lens now lets any Snapchat user type in a prompt like “turn me into an alien” or “grumpy cat” and watch the AI transform a selfie or generate a new image altogether. What’s notable is how the company is embedding prompt-driven image generation directly into the in-camera experience, rather than as a separate tool. Innovation under the hood What’s technically interesting about this new feature that that the Imagine Lens is built to accept open text prompts rather than fixed filter choices. This positions it more akin to the emerging generative-AI paradigm (text to image) rather than the typical AR overlay model, according to Snapchat.  By making it free (at least in limited quantities) to everyone, Snap is reducing the friction for experimentation, which may surface new user behaviours, creative norms
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