The First Hit Generative AI Product After ChatGPT? Somehow, It’s Snapchat+

Snapchat users are flocking to its new AI-powered subscription. But is generative AI a feature or something more?

Snapchat+ hit another wild milestone over the holiday break. The $3.99-per-month premium subscription reached 7 million paying users, up by 2 million since September 2023 and more than double its April total. It now dwarfs Instagram and Twitter’s premium offerings, which have struggled to move beyond 1 million subscribers. And that’s perhaps because Snapchat+ is not a social media subscription at all.

For the $3.99, Snapchat offers users a slew of generative AI features, not simply status markers like blue checks. Snapchat+ subscribers get an AI image generator similar to Dall-E, an AI image extender that expands pictures based on what the tech thinks is out of frame, special functionality in Snapchat’s GPT-4-powered chatbot called My AI, and a ‘Dreams’ tool that uses selfies to create images of users in fantasy settings like alternate universes or movie posters.

Snapchat+, in other words, is a generative AI product, and a hit at that. And as the first breakout in the genre since ChatGPT, its success indicates that generative AI’s near-term future may be a bit different than many…