British regulator says Snapchat’s chatbot could pose a technology risk to children’s privacy

Hey snap chat You may not have adequately assessed your privacy risks chatbot in artificial intelligence The UK data watchdog said on Friday that it would consider the company’s response before making any final enforcement decision.

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The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said that if the US company failed to adequately address the regulator’s concerns, My AI, which launched in April, could be banned in the UK.

• Meta previously launched an app called Threads to compete with Snapchat
• Snapchat launches its own AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT

Information Commissioner John Edwards said: “The initial findings of our investigation point to a worrying failure by Snap to adequately identify and assess privacy risks to children and other users before launching My AI.”

The regulator said the findings did not necessarily mean that the instant messaging app, which is largely used by young people, had violated British data protection laws or that the ICO would end with the issuance of an enforcement notice.

Snap said it is reviewing the ICO notice and is committed to user privacy. “My AI went through a robust legal and privacy review process before it was made available to the public,” a Snap spokesperson said.

“We will continue to work constructively with the ICO to ensure they are comfortable with our risk assessment procedures.”

The ICO is investigating how My AI processed the personal data of nearly 21 million UK users of Snapchat, including children aged 13 to 17 years. They are looking to find ways to regulate in light of privacy and security concerns.