- Snapchat’s new imagine lens uses AI to produce an image from any prompt
- The feature blends generative AI with snaps real-time camera interface
- The lens is only available for snapchat+ platinum and lens+ subscribers for now
Snapchat has offered AI-powered lenses for pre-programmed filters for a while, but its latest feature allows you to write the fast you want. The new Imagine lens will change your photos based on what you write, no matter how specific. You can take a selfie and ask it to “turn me into a four-panel cartoon where I become a jellyfish superhero,” and see that the cartoon is displaying.
Only available for Snapchat+ Platinum and Lens+ subscribers on iOS, imagine the lens is the app’s first open AI image generator built into the lens carousel. Unlike Snapchat’s existing generative lenses that offer funny but firm effects, this one actually listens to what you write. The resulting image can then be sent to your story, stored on your camera roll or shared with your friends. Unlike the existing lenses, you may not be able to make a video or watch the overlay ahead of time, but Snap seems confident that people will like the final result.
There are plenty of AI image generators and editors, but the Imagine lens stand out at its speed and to be streamlined by being part of the Snapchat app. You just open the camera, turn over to the Imagine lens and start writing in the caption beam. You can also use one of Snapchat’s pre -written quick suggestions, such as “Make this person a cartoon”, “Make me a Renaissance Statue” or “Make this a clumsy caricature.”
Selfie fantasy
The Imagine lens is in some ways the current height of Snapchat’s efforts to combine AI with Augmented Reality as part of its brand. This year, Snap launched its first video-based AI lenses and rolled out an independent Linse Studio app and web portal. The idea was to make it easier for amateur creators to build AR -Filters from scratch. Imagine Linse just expanding that idea in a limited way to any user (who pays to subscribe).
There is clearly demand for it, and Snap does not want to be left behind as Tiktok cultivates his package of AI effects and filters, not to mention the similar experiments performed by Google, Meta, Apple and other major brands.
How good the Imagine lens work for a larger user base is yet to be seen. AI image tools can be unclear in their logic when interpreting a prompt. Still, it’s easy to see how people who use Snapchat may be eager to get their hands on and how it can even entice people to pay for the privilege.
Snap will have to push for ways to stand out as the idea of making funny visual moments immediately from a written prompt becomes ubiquitous. Imagine that.
