Snapchat unlocks AI chatbot for all users

The Photos app also introduces a new augmented reality feature. Also: Tesla’s quarterly profit collapses and Microsoft removes Twitter from its advertising platform.

Good morning! While you slept, work continued elsewhere in the digital scene.

The top topics:

Snapchat launches an artificial intelligence (AI) driven chatbot on its social media platform. The chatbot “MyAI”, which is based on OpenAIs ChatGPT, was rolled out to subscribers of Snap’s premium service back in February, but is now being offered for free to all of the photo app’s 750 million monthly active users, the company said. The system can have human-like discussions with users and responds with visual content in addition to the messages. According to CEO Evan Spiegel, however, the function should be more restrictive and therefore more secure than the ChatGPT system on which it is based. This is due to Snap’s young audience and increasing concerns from authorities and politicians about the safety of young people on online platforms.

In addition, the Snapchat operating company wants to further expand its augmented reality services. Snap on Wednesday introduced the “Mirror” function – a kind of digital mirror that allows you to virtually try on clothes. Users can see how the clothes look on their bodies on the screen before making a purchasing decision. [Mehr bei Financial Times, Handelsblatt, Techcrunch, Reuters und Bloomberg]

On Founder scene: Is the hype becoming hysteria? ChatGPT was banned in Italy for data protection violations. Germany could follow. In an article by Alexander Ingelheimcertified data protection officer and founder of Datenschutzexperte.de, read what you have to consider when using ChatGPT in a startup. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]

And here are the other headlines of the night:

Tesla reported net income of $2.5 billion in the first quarter, down 24 percent from the same period last year. Previously, Tesla had repeatedly reduced the prices of its four electric cars – Model S, Model X, Model Y and Model 3 – in the US, Europe and China. This strategy helped increase sales by 24 percent. The stock initially fell about 3 percent in after-hours trading. Since the beginning of the year, however, the price has risen by almost 50 percent. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt, Techcrunch, Reuters, CNBC und Wall Street Journal]

Microsoft deletes Twitter from its social media management tool that allows businesses to create, draft and schedule tweets in addition to posts for other platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin. In a statement, Microsoft said that access to Twitter will be removed on April 25th. The move shows how much Twitter’s status has dropped with advertisers. The short message service’s ad revenue has fallen about 40 percent since tech entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk took over. Musk is now threatening to sue Microsoft. [Mehr bei Mashable, Bloomberg, Techcrunch und The Information]

At Meta As announced yesterday, the next round of redundancies has begun. As part of the job cuts announced in March, the Facebook parent company began laying off tech staff on Wednesday. The moves are part of a broader restructuring at Meta, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg has described as a “year of efficiency.” According to US media, the layoffs this week could amount to around 4,000 jobs. In November, 11,000 jobs were already cut. [Mehr bei The Guardian, CNBC, The Information, Reuters und Techcrunch]

More than 40 German associations and unions are demanding stricter rules from the EU to prevent copyright infringement by artificial intelligence (AI). They want “effective regulatory measures to avert the enormous damage that can occur if generative AI is brought to market in European markets,” according to a statement by the Copyright Initiative to the EU institutions. The alliance represents the interests of around 140,000 representatives of the creative industries. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt und Reuters]

IBM was able to significantly increase its profit in the past quarter. While the computer group’s sales increased by only 0.4 percent compared to the same period last year, net profit grew by 26 percent to 927 million US dollars, as the company announced on Wednesday. For the year as a whole, IBM expects sales to increase by three to five percent. After analysts’ profit expectations were exceeded, the share gained a good three percent in after-hours trading in the US. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt, CNBC und Bloomberg]

Our reading tip on Gründerszene: The Berlin startup Get a loan is regarded as a European beacon of hope in autonomous driving. But research shows that the technology is far from being as mature as claimed. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]

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A nice Thursday!

Your Gründerszene editors