Context · AI
Snapchat has a chatbot pinned at the top of your kid's conversation list that looks exactly like a friend, sits among their actual friends, and cannot be removed on a free account.
It is designed to read as a person
It has a name and an avatar and it sits in the same chat list as real people, and it replies in the same casual voice their friends use. Younger kids in particular do not reliably hold on to the fact that there is nobody there, and nothing in the app is trying to remind them.
What kids actually tell it
Because it never judges and never gets tired, kids message it about the things they are not ready to say to a person, which can be homework and can be something much heavier. Anything typed into the chat is data going to a company, and it is not a counselor even when the conversation turns into one.
What you can and cannot turn off
On a free account it cannot be unpinned or deleted, so the honest position is that it is there. What you can do is talk about it directly, and check the Family Center setting that lets you see whether your kid is messaging it, because that at least tells you the conversation is happening.