Many dating app companies are keen to incorporate generated AI into their products. Whitney Wolf Hard, founder of the dating app Bumble, hopes that Gen-Ai will “help create healthier and equitable relationships.” In her vision for the near future, people have an AI dating concierge that can “date” other people's dating concierges and find out which pairings are most compatible.
Dating App Grindr is developing AI Wingman. This is hoping to go into operation by 2027. Match Group, owners of popular dating apps such as Tinder, Hinge and Ok Cupid, have expressed a strong interest in using Gen-AI in their products, and believes that recent advances in AI technology will be “transformed, users will be more sairless and users will be able to participate in order to participate. One way they think Gen-Ai can do this is to enhance the “authenticity of human connection.”
However, using Gen-AI on online dating is not just a future possibility. It's already here.
Want to enhance your photos or present yourself in a different style? There are many online tools for this. Similarly, if you want AI to help you “make a perfect and attention-grabbing bio” for you, it can do that. AI can help you have a conversation by analyzing your chat history and suggesting ways to reply.
It's not just app companies that are passionate about using it on dating apps. A recent survey conducted by Cosmopolitan Magazine, 5,000 Gen-Zers and Millennials Bumble found that 69% of respondents were excited about “how AI can make it easier and more efficient.”
An even higher percentage (86%) said, “we believe it will help resolve fatigue on broad dating.” Amazing 86% of men and 77% of women surveyed share their message history with AI to guide conversations on dating apps.
It's not hard to see why AI is so appealing to dating app users and providers. Dating apps seem to be losing novelty. Many users are reportedly abandoning them due to what is called “dating app fatigue.”
Apps and users may be hoping that Gen-AI can make dating apps fun again. Some AI dating buddies claim they get a better date with 10 times more dates. Given that men tend to have fewer matches on dating apps than women, it's not surprising that they see more enthusiasm from men than women about the possibilities that AI can bring.
The Gen-AI talk related to online dating raises many ethical concerns. With Ethical Dating Online Network, an international network of over 30 interdisciplinary scholars interested in how online dating is ethical, we believe dating app companies need to convince these concerns before bringing new products to the market. Here are some outstanding issues.
The pitfalls of AI dating
Technology companies correctly identify several modern social issues, including loneliness, anxiety about social interactions, concerns about dating culture, and concerns as hampering people's dating lives.
However, looking at more technologies to solve these problems, there is a risk of losing the skills necessary to make the close relationship work. The more Gen-AI can guide interactions, the less temptation is to take responsibility for practicing and communicating yourself. After all, AI's “wingmen” are of little use when meeting in person.
AI tools also risk entrenching many of the dating cultures that people find stressful. The norms of “joking,” charm, or flirting can make the quest for intimacy look like a competitive battlefield. How AI works – Learning from existing conversations means recreating these unwanted aspects.
Instead of embracing these norms and trying to equip everyone with tools to meet incredibly high standards, dating app companies can do more to “escalate” their dating culture. For example, they can rethink how their products are charged, encourage a culture of integrity, and see alternatives to the “swipe” interface.
Possible misrepresentation is another concern. When it comes to dating, people are constantly massaging the truth, and the internet has made this easier. However, the more they encourage AI tools, the more they are built into dating apps, making it easier for bad actors to take advantage of the vulnerable ones.
Photos, or conversations generated by AI, can lead to exchanges of bank details, grooming, and sexual exploitation.
However, what doesn't lead to fraud is the looming crisis of intimate credibility. Online dating with material risks generated by AI runs the risk of becoming an ambiguous experience. Honest users may have trouble identifying like-minded matches in apps where AI usage is common.
This burden of interpretation is annoying to everyone, but you will experience it on dating apps to exacerbate women with existing frustration over men, taking time and navigate spaces filled with abuse, harassment and unwanted sexualization.
In fact, women may be worried about AI turbo charging the ability to cause trouble online. Bots, automation, and conversation generation tools help some men to simultaneously assert the attention of many women.
AI tools may seem like harmless fun. Some people even genuinely accept that AI-generated content is not “real” and that they love it anyway.
However, there is no clear guardrail in place, so there is more effort to provide an informed choice based on transparency about how the app works.
Applied Ethics lecturer Natasha McKeever; University of Leeds Luke Brunning, lecturer in applied ethics; University of Leeds
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