I think the issue is way simpler. I don't think its a backlash against AI as the article makes it out to be. The "My AI" 'user' is pinned to the top of your chat list. You can not remove it. If they simply gave users an option to turn it on or off the problem would be solved.
"Snapchat+ subscribers receive early access to new My AI features, and have the ability to unpin or remove My AI from their Chat feed."
Also worth noting that as a free user I have been able to remove it from the list that is shown on the web version of Snapchat [1], but that change doesn't carry over to the mobile app.
Also there's a second support article which also currently contains that same quote but used to read: "Only Snapchat+ subscribers can remove My AI from their Chat feed at this time." [1]
That's what happened to the Bing "AI" button they added to Swiftkey recently.
Only using it on my Pixel so I only saw the Play Store reviews alongside a few articles online. But they were pummeled with 1* reviews and a week later...no more Bing icon that I can't remove from my otherwise fine keyboard.
I think it's both. If people actually found the AI useful they wouldn't all be clamoring for a way to get rid of it. Forcing the feature on users is stupid on Snap's part, but it wouldn't have provoked as bad of a reaction if the feature sucked less.
Unfortunately we're about to see a lot more garbage AI features and content forced on users.
That is not the default behavior for the AI. It's pinned at the top of your chats. Nothing moves it down, and at least on my phone, you can't get rid of it.
Is it though? Browsing through the Android reviews 9 out of 10 that mentioned "AI" were complaining about not being able to remove it or that you need to pay for snapchat+ to remove it. Pretty sure if they either gave an easy option to not have it pinned, or as teaearlgraycold mentioned in another reply, just have it fall down the list naturally there wouldn't be an issue at all.