Snapchat Launches First Open-Prompt AI Lens for Free in the U.S.

Snapchat has now made its new "Imagine Lenses" freely available to all users, marking the company's first open-prompt image-generating AI lens. Initially launched in September, this feature was previously accessible only to paying subscribers. With this lens, users can either edit their Snaps using personalized prompts or create entirely new images.

For instance, after taking a selfie, you might prompt the app with "turn me into an alien," or request the creation of an image like an "angry cat." The company suggests that users could creatively try out Halloween costumes or reimagine their friends' new looks using this feature.

The resulting images can be shared with friends, posted to your Snapchat story, or distributed outside the application.

This wide release of AI lenses follows closely on the heels of AI video-generation apps launched by Meta (Meta AI) and OpenAI (Sora), which are competing for young users' attention by offering more advanced AI tools and features for visual editing.

For example, Sora allows users to generate their own videos. Users can capture their likeness through one-time video and audio recordings. Friends can share these AI-generated characters, known as "cameos," so they can appear together in videos.

This trend has increased pressure on other social apps like Snapchat, making it a worthwhile investment for app developers to offer AI image lenses for free.

Previously, Snapchat's AI lenses were only available to Lens+ and Snapchat Premium subscribers, according to the company. With this expanded release, Snap is also offering limited image-generation capabilities to free users. At launch, free users in the U.S. will gain access to the new lens, with plans to roll it out to other markets, starting with Canada, the U.K., and Australia.

The lens appears prominently in the lens carousel within the app, or you can search for it by name. To create, tap the title to edit your prompt, or if you need inspiration, use the preloaded suggestions.

The company noted that Snapchat users access lenses more than 8 billion times daily.