Snapchat has offered a sneak peek at its upcoming on-device AI model, showcasing how it can transform users' surroundings with augmented reality (AR). At the Augmented World Expo, Snap's co-founder and CTO, Bobby Murphy, demonstrated how their real-time image model can bring imagination to life in AR. This prototype allows users to type in an idea, and the model generates a vivid AR experience instantly.
Snap's GenAI advancements are at the heart of these new features. The company has optimized GenAI techniques to make them faster and more performant, enabling Snapchat's community to create and communicate on the go. GenAI already powers several Snapchat features, including Bitmoji Backgrounds, Chat Wallpapers, Dreams, AI Pets, and AI Lenses.
Alongside these developments, Snapchat is releasing Lens Studio 5.0, a suite of new AI tools for its AR developer community. This update includes the GenAI Suite, which offers AR creators custom ML models and assets to build high-quality Lenses faster and more efficiently. With these tools, creators can generate selfie Lenses with realistic ML face effects, custom stylization effects, and 3D assets in a matter of minutes.
The GenAI Suite also includes an AI assistant to answer AR creators' questions and enhance their development workflow.
To showcase the creative potential of these new tools, Snapchat has collaborated with London's National Portrait Gallery to create Lenses inspired by iconic portrait styles. Snapchat users can select from a collection of portrait-style Lenses, take a Snap, and submit it to the museum's "Living Portrait" projection wall.
Snapchat users will start seeing these new Lenses in the coming months, and creators will gain access to these tools by the end of the year.