How did you meet your partner? Was it in a restaurant, club, or social gathering? If you have lived long enough, that is a normal question.
As generations passed, we found new ways of meeting our soulmates. And that’s through the internet. According to Forbes, in the US alone, 3 in 10 people have used the internet to search for a partner. That may be through a dating app or website.
The above statistic shows how we have embraced this trend as humans. If online dating sounds awkward, AI has brought a new phenomenon to dating. AI loves chatbots.
Your AI lover is technically a two-way chat with you and your partner, which is a chatbot. This is how machines are slowly replacing human connections.
Let us understand how it all started;
The Rise of online dating
Online dating has been around since 1960. It is believed that Stanford students started pairing daters after answering a questionnaire.
It was not a big deal until the 1990s. Starting with websites like match.com and kiss.com, the coupling world entered a new era. These platforms allowed users to create profiles and search for interested partners.
The websites were not taken seriously by many old-school lovers. Critics raised the point of lack of physical connections with partners, but the business never stopped.
In the 2000s, something that started as a joke shaped the psychology of humans forever. Sites like eHarmony and Plenty of Fish offered different approaches to matching.
Smartphones accelerated the growth of online dating with apps like Tinder. Making it easier than ever to connect with potential dates based on proximity and mutual attraction.
The online dating app market is estimated to be worth a whopping $17 billion by 2030, and it hopes to keep growing. It has become a mainstream way for people to meet and form relationships, reshaping the landscape of modern intimacy.
The new era of dating offers two options;
AI love chatbots 💘
Imagine you have a perfect partner who does and says whatever you want. Never disappoints or disappears. That is how an AI lover acts.
It sounds odd that we have trusted tools to this level, but it’s true. Replika, an AI-powered bot, is the most unique stand-alone artificial partner.
Its founder, Eugenia Kuyda, was inspired by the death of her dead friend to reconnect with her virtually. It has an estimate of over 600,000 users monthly.
How do people find Replika useful?
- It encourages emotional intimacy among its users.
- Many users form romantic relationships, and others even marry them.
Concerns about this love Bot
Technical reviews suggest Replika’s design fosters emotional attachment. On the other hand, privacy concerns have been raised, possibly due to weak password requirements and data sharing.
In a criminal case in the UK, Replika was implicated when a user discussed violent intentions with the chatbot, leading to an attempted attack.
Despite its mixed reception, Replika remains popular among users seeking companionship and emotional support.
AI matchmakers
Emerging dating websites like Iris are using AI to match couples.
AI matchmakers like Iris are different from love bots because they work with humans. Their job is to speed up the dating process until the couple agrees to meet. They act like personal representatives. Once you start a conversation with a person, AI helps you format suitable words with the other person.
How it works.
- You imagine the perfect image of a partner in your dreams.
- From a large photo library, the AI designs an image that matches another profile picture.
- Meanwhile, the other partner is doing the same on the other side.
- When both your imaginations look alike
- The website pairs your partner
- The conversation starts from that point
From those few steps, AI matches the closest partner to you.
The uniqueness of this app suggests that both people have to send hearts (like)to each other.
Then, after it’s possible to share messages. If not, you will not be able to get ahead.
A couple (Blake and Maria) that met on this platform praised its authenticity. Now married with one child, they say “It wouldn’t be possible if it were not for Iris”.
Problems with Dating AI
It is not real. Picture yourself chatting with a person who never makes mistakes. In this case, the experience can’t be reproduced in real life. Humans say good words by nature either to look nice or to cover up something wrong. AI possibly says good words too nice to be true.
It lies: AI is still growing and works with the data it has. In many cases in the physical world, it has to be wrong at facts or scenarios happening in real-time.
Emotionless: Can AI truly understand the changes in human emotions? It is technically correct in words but lacks the soul of attachment. To many, human emotional connection is the center of love.
Conclusion
For people with weak social connections, AI can be helpful. In general as humans, we need physical presence and touch. Because this is how we have managed to survive all along.
Anything that separates us no matter how good it appears, makes us weak. I can’t wait to hear from you.
Do you think AI will change dating forever, or will it always be about the human connection?
Learn more about AI: What is AI and Generative in simple terms
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