Snap Inc. has introduced its first-ever video generative AI Lenses.
The three new AI Video Lenses are available to users on app’s premium subscription tier, Snapchat Platinum, for $15.99 a month. The product news follows the company’s unveiling of an artificial intelligence (AI) video-generation tool in September.
The initial lenses include “Raccoon,” “Fox,” and “Spring Flowers” themes, which can be selected from a Lens carousel and then captured through a front or back camera. The AI video will generate and then automatically save to the user’s Memories.
“These Lenses, powered by our in-house built generative video model, bring some of the most cutting edge AI tools available today to Snapchatters through a familiar Lens format,” Snap said in a blog post Wednesday. “We have a long history of being first movers to bring advanced AR, ML and AI tools directly to our community, and we’re excited to see what Snapchatters create.”
The new lenses could further set Snapchat apart from other makers of smart glasses, say industry observers, because its glasses are compatible with the Snapchat app on smartphones. While Snap has tapped AI tools from OpenAI and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to enable some of its features, it is now building its own models.
Still, a major competitor remains Meta Platforms Inc. It has inundated its Instagram and Facebook properties with Meta AI since its release last year. And Facebook’s parent company continues to use public content from its millions of U.S. users to train its models.
Google, meanwhile, has promoted its AI video capabilities with a newly released AI video background generator on YouTube Shorts. TikTok has also debuted AI avatars for creators.
