Your Friend the ChatBot

Hi folks it’s Brad in San Francisco. Your new online bestie may be a chatbot. But first...Today’s must-reads: Apple is about to give its wat [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi folks it’s Brad in San Francisco. Your new online bestie may be a chatbot. But first... Today’s must-reads: - Apple is about to give its [watch lineup]( a major software update - No one told [Miami’s startup community]( there’s a tech downturn - Arm confidentially submitted a [draft registration]( for its proposed IPO Your AI BFF. What could go wrong? Over the last month, a few hundred million Snapchat users got a new best friend: a chatbot named “[My AI](.” The program, which [sometimes]( dubs itself “Sage” when you ask what it prefers to be called, is powered by OpenAI’s powerful artificial intelligence tool, ChatGPT. It appeared suddenly for many Snapchat users pinned to the top of their friends list — sacred territory on the messaging app. The arrival of Sage, which was previously[accessible to members]( who subscribed to a premium service called Snapchat+, sparked predictable [concerns]( among parent groups, who worried (somewhat improbably) that younger kids might not know they are talking to a computer. It also spawned countless video commentaries on teen hangouts like Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok. Users asked the chatbot to [pretend to be their boyfriend]( and to [do their homework](, [quizzed it](, [teased it](, and [got it to reveal its awareness]( of their location. That last disclosure caused another round of hand-wringing about privacy, and [forced Snap Inc. to clarify]( last week in a statement that My AI has access to a Snapchatter’s whereabouts only if they have permitted location sharing on the app, which then allows the chatbot to recommend, for example, [the closest McDonald’s](.  But Sage also portends something else — the imminent collision of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and social media. At the same time as Sage was getting [mixed reviews]( from users, Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said [on the company’s quarterly earnings call]( that conversational AI is coming soon to social networks like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. “I think there’s an opportunity to introduce AI agents to billions of people in ways that will be useful and meaningful,” Zuckerberg told investors. He added that generative AI is “literally going to touch every single one of our products” and suggested the new tools would be useful not just for users but advertisers, who could use AI agents for things like customer support (so get ready to curse out those unhelpful chatbots). Social media’s embrace of AI is another opportunity to marvel at the AI hype sweeping through tech. Conventional wisdom in the industry once held that AI would be a game-changer for search, as people query chatbots to receive prompt answers instead of entering questions into a search field and scrolling through pages of blue links to find what they need. But Zuckerberg and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel are now suggesting that social, not search, might actually be AI’s killer app — offering people an easier way to get answers to pressing questions than going to Google, while serving as a sort of ever-present virtual assistant who can suggest funny videos and give you clever ideas about what to say in group chats. In my experience, kids are generally more sophisticated than adults about social media and internet culture, so I don’t worry that any of them will get duped into thinking Sage and her ilk are real. But introducing chatbots to social networks does raise some concerns. Snap has tried to put guardrails around My AI – it’s not going to offer advice about the best way to score drugs and alcohol. But people will always find ways to trick the bots. For example, last month, Aza Raskin, co-founder of the [Center for Humane Technology](, signed up as a 13-year-old girl and [got the chatbot to give advice]( about scheduling a date with a 31-year-old stranger she met online. For Liz Perle, a former Instagram employee and Gen Z consultant, the more pressing concern is whether young users will use Sage and sites like ChatGPT to take academic shortcuts. “It really shouldn’t be a research tool for something like an essay,” she said. “It will cite sources that look real and those sources are fake, which is absolutely unclear. It’s really hard for an average person to know that. It is something that needs to be made clear in the product.” Perle is also unsettled by the introduction of Sage into the very top of Snap’s friends list, which has “always been a place where you engage with real life friends.” So she says she wasn’t surprised by last week’s outpouring of anxiety and [one-star reviews]( of Snap on the App Store. But she said she also understands why social media companies are jumping on the AI bandwagon. Simply put, chatbots like Sage aim to entice users to devote more time and attention to their social media apps. And that’s the gold standard for any social network — for better, and way too often, for worse. —[Brad Stone](mailto:bstone12@bloomberg.net) The big story Sony offered a conservative profit outlook for the current fiscal year, warning about the impact of the global consumer [spending slump]( on its electronics and entertainment businesses. The tech giant expects fewer sales of PlayStation Studios games this fiscal year. Get fully charged - Bain Capital built a stake in Software AG, potentially signaling a [takeover battle](for the German company. - Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger joins Ed Ludlow and Guy Johnson to discuss the [outlook for the company](, the health of the semiconductor sector, and why he sees the first quarter as a turning point. - YouTube Global Head of Music Lyor Cohen joins Caroline Hyde to talk about [music videos](. Got questions about AI? Submit them at techtwitter@bloomberg.net. We’ll select a handful to answer during a live chat with our reporters on Thursday, May 4. Mark your calendars to tune in on LinkedIn [here](. More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Tech Daily newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. 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