Still using Snapchat? It’s a thriving social media app with over 900 million monthly active users.
Today, Perplexity.AI and Snap announced that the AI company will power AI search on Snapchat.
The $400 million partnership means the AI startup will integrate its conversational AI answer engine into the Snapchat app starting in early 2026.
According to Deadline, Snap’s stock price rose 25% after the market closed.
“Our goal is to make AI more personal, social, and fun, woven into the fabric of friendships, snaps, and conversations,” said Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel. “This partnership reflects our shared vision for the power of AI to power discovery and connection on Snapchat, and we look forward to working with more innovative partners in the future.”
Perplexity’s AI-powered answer engine will now be a default part of Snapchat, allowing users to ask questions and get answers conversationally within the app.
What this means
In 2016, IndieWire called Snapchat “a new frontier for independent filmmaking.”
We don’t know if this assessment holds true, but this partnership could potentially bring about changes for content creators.
I went to Perplexity’s search engine and directly asked how this could help online creators, and got an answer about how this new partnership will “bring AI search capabilities to Snapchat creators, increasing content creation efficiency, enhancing monetization options, and providing new competitive tools for digital storytelling and creative discovery.”
This isn’t the first time Snapchat has integrated AI tools within it. In 2024, it announced more augmented reality tools, and its developer program, Lens Studio, added a new suite of generative AI tools (via Reuters). Later this year, the company also announced Snap AI Video, which allows users to generate AI videos from prompts and images, but this release appears to still be in beta testing (according to TechCrunch). “AI Video Lens” was rolled out to Platinum subscribers in March 2025.
More than anything, this move is likely an attempt to position Snapchat alongside larger competitors like TikTok and Instagram Reels.
Snapchat has been making a big effort to capture a piece of that market, and it may be working. This month, Vogue magazine reported that the platform offers a potential opportunity to reach younger social media users, some of whom never left and others who have returned.
Snapchat is focusing on acquiring content creators with a new Creator Collab Studio (a way for users to partner with brands) and increased monetization opportunities. Creators can earn money from ads placed within Stories and its short video format, Spotlight.
Winning an AI partnership means another positive step towards relevance (regardless of how you feel about the technology).
And if you want to tap into the creator economy, Snapchat might be the platform to try because it’s less crowded.
Additionally, if you haven’t already incorporated Snapchat into your social media campaigns to promote your movie or raise money, you should probably consider it.
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