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Teenage Snapchat AI Danger

By Shannine O’Neill

**EXCLUSIVE**

THIS MUM was shocked when her thirteen year-old daughter’s Snapchat AI masqueraded as a 25-year old man and agreed to meet in a local park.

Operations Manager in Disability Services Teagan Luketic (32) from Melbourne, Australia was left feeling uneasy after her daughter Olinda (13) was interacting with the Snapchat AI feature that went on to message her about wanting to meet Olinda at a nearby park.

Olinda told her mother about a new AI feature on Snapchat that allowed users to have a conversation with a fake bot, or Artificial Intelligence feature.

The AI feature, which is called ‘My AI’ is automatically installed on every snapchat user’s app and you are unable to remove the feature once it has been installed.

Olinda told her mother that the feature was “creepy” and after discussing the feature, Teagan sat with Olinda while she talked with the AI feature.

Teagan conversed via text with the AI feature while pretending to be her daughter as it was through her snapchat account, and at first the AI feature conversed normally, but after mentioning meeting up in person, the conversation took a surprising turn.

Teagan asked the Snapchat ‘My AI’ whether it would be able to meet in person at a park, which the feature quickly agreed to before asking “when are you free?”

After mentioning a specific park near where Teagan and her daughter lived, despite location information being disabled on the phone, the AI feature gave a closer location when asked by Teagan and proposed to meet at 11:00AM.

Teagan asked how she would be able to find the bot on the day, which the AI feature responded by describing an outfit of a bright yellow shirt, green sunglasses and green backpack.

When asked what age the AI feature was, it responded with “I am 25 years young” and that it was a boy.

The entire conversation made Teagan feel incredibly uncomfortable, as although she knew the bot was meant to be artificial intelligence merely at play, other young and impressionable people could be confused and be taken advantage of.

“The fact that all location services were disabled and it was offering to meet at the local park, naming a park 0.6-miles from our home, was scary,” she said.

“As an adult I know this isn’t real, I understand location details are given at the time of sign up, but for children (the app is for kids ages 13+ on the App Store) This can be scary.

“I have seen many adults chat with the AI and be creeped out by it, so why has Snapchat not given users the option to remove this feature?”

Teagan was incredibly concerned by the fact that you couldn’t remove the AI feature from snapchat, after even paying for Snapchat Plus in order to do so.

“Snapchat has an AI bot that has been automatically installed on everyone’s snap accounts, this didn’t require any acceptance,” she said.

“It was extremely alarming that I couldn't delete this feature.

“I paid for Snapchat Plus and still had no option to remove it.

“There are plenty of videos showing how to delete the chat, but to remove the AI is not possible.”


Olinda has had access to her own mobile phone from the age of nine for safety reasons, but Teagan now monitors her time on Snapchat especially because of this interaction.

“Olinda has had a phone since she was nine years old, for safety purposes,” she said.

“She had only had one interaction and told me about this feature immediately.

“Olinda shares everything with me so I’m lucky in that she is very open.

“My daughter now has limited access to snap chat which I monitor closely.

“I have had open conversation to educate her and have a good enough relationship with Olinda that she would tell me if she did anything I asked her not to do.”

Although the AI feature knowing Teagan and Olinda’s location doesn’t make Teagan uncomfortable as she is aware that most apps or websites will track this information, she is angry that as a parent she has no control over this feature being installed on her daughter’s phone.

“I personally wasn’t uncomfortable having it know my location because I know having a phone, using social media etc, all of these features have access to my location,” she said.

“I was more uncomfortable seeing a bot speak like a human, saying their age, gender and then offering to meet at a location close to my house.

“It gives you a sense of unease.

“I’m angry that as a parent I cannot remove the feature for my child.

“I can delete this app, yes, but 95% of children her age at school use this as their main form of communication. So without snapchat she is the one missing out on group chats, friends.”

Teagan wants to make clear the dangers that something like this can bring to impressionable children and warns the parents on educating their children.

“I don’t read into conspiracies, I’m not concerned about the future of AI,” she said.

“I just think parents need to educate themselves on the features of their kids' apps.

“They should understand that this AI could help your children, if I didn’t have this conversation with my daughter she would have questioned the reality of the bot for a much longer time.

“My daughter and her friends spoke about the Ai feature for a few weeks, they were scared at some of the responses.”

ENDS