Snapchat puts your AI selfie in personalized ads by default
Snapchat just rolled out an AI selfie feature that quietly opts you into having your likeness used in personalized ads by default. While Snap claims these ads are only visible to you and third-party advertisers can't access your data, users still have to dig into settings to turn the feature off.
If you recently used Snapchat to make an AI version of yourself, you might want to take a quick trip into your settings before your own face pops up in a sponsored post.
A new report from 404 Media revealed that Snap's My Selfie feature quietly opts users into having their AI-generated likenesses used in personalized ads by default.
Your face as the brand ambassador
The feature, called My Selfie, lets users upload real photos to generate stylized AI avatars with friends. But the fine print attached to the tool comes with a pretty wild catch.
When you first activate the feature, the terms state that your likeness can appear in personalized sponsored content and ads. The kicker is that Snap and its brand partners can use your face without paying you a dime, though Snap notes these ads are only visible to you.
According to 404 Media and verified by The Verge, the toggle labeled See My Selfie in Ads turns on automatically the second you accept the terms.
Snap has since moved to calm privacy concerns. Company spokesperson Maggie Cherneff stated that outside advertisers never get access to raw generative AI data or personal Memories to make their own images. Cherneff also noted that Snap is not currently running ads featuring users' My Selfies.
If you want to turn it off just in case, open Snapchat, tap your profile icon, go to Settings, select My Selfie, and toggle off See My Selfie in Ads.
Why it matters
Generative AI features cost real money to run, and social platforms are desperate to monetize the compute costs. Turning your face into custom brand collateral is an ingenious ad pitch, but doing it by default feels remarkably tone-deaf.
Even if these personalized ads are only visible to you, seeing an AI version of yourself pitching products crosses a weird psychological line. Platforms spent the last decade monetizing our behavioral data, and now they are coming for our digital likenesses.
We think sneaking this into a terms of service acceptance sets a terrible precedent for consumer AI apps. If tech giants want users to trust their experimental creative tools, grabbing portrait rights by default is exactly the wrong way to build goodwill.
Sources (1)
- theverge.com(opens in a new tab)Originaltheverge.com