Dating Apps Are Matching People With AI Bots Now So I Guess We're All Going To Be Married To Robots Soon
A new dating app uses artificial intelligence to create chatbots that mimic users’ interests and personalities — a feature meant to reduce “ghosting” by handling the initial meet-and-greet part of the dating process.
Instead of striking up a conversation with a prospect directly, users initially can engage with a chatbot that “gives you a feel” for your match before actually speaking to them, according to Teaser AI, whose app is slated to hit Apple’s App Store later this month,
The idea is to cut the chit-chat so that users can immediately “decide whether you want to meet up,” per the App Store description.
The app was started because “dating apps today have endless small talk,” but “we don’t want a pen pal,” the company said.
“When you start Teaser AI, our AI starts learning about you — through your profile and chats, it gets smarter every time,” the description reads, reminding users that the AI is “of course not perfect.”
Okay, well, I guess we're just living inside of the movie Her starring Joaquin Phoenix. Combined with the plot of the Hang The DJ episode of Black Mirror, where AI/technology would put people through "test" scenarios and seeing how they did together before deciding if they were compatible in the real world or not. A few issues:
1. What if you fall in love with the "teaser" bot, because it will inevitably be smarter and have better, more engaging conversation than the actual human people, because it doesn't feel real emotions?
2. What if you go through dozens of these AI tester bots and never end up having an actual conversation? So your entire dating life is just bot after bot after bot, without any actual human connections?
3. What happens when this AI bot learns so much about you, that it takes over your whole identity and steals your fucking girl?
I don't know what the answer is when it comes to technology and dating. I've always hated the apps and I know lots of people have met people successfully, but when do we go back to like, meeting people in person? Having the confidence and the right tone/level of respect to walk up to someone and strike up a conversation? When will we stop confusing hope and positivity for desperation? Why can't both men AND women, be chivalrous in the world of dating?
I also am someone who HATES the "getting to know you" part of a relationship, the small talk mentioned above, so I get where the idea comes from. I wish everyone already knew me and everything about my personality, so I wouldn't have to explain it to them. But...explaining things to people, gauging their reactions and responses, and figuring out if you actually like them are probably the most important building blocks of a relationship, right?