People Are Rizzing on Tinder Using ChatGPT, Then Showing Up to Dates Completely Tongue-Tied Without Their AI Crutch

Online dating apps have become a leading way to meet romantic partners, turning dating from an in-person experience into an often tedious, touchscreen-focused exercise.

And with the advent of generative AI, that bleak landscape of modern dating is continuing to evolve in dystopian — and perhaps predictable — ways.

As the Washington Post reports, a 31-year-old named Richard Wilson was startled when his date “had none of the conversational pizzazz she had shown over text.”

Her messages had included “long, multi-paragraph messages” and acknowledgments of “each of his points.” But in person she lacked those conversational chops, and when she mentioned that she used ChatGPT “all the time” for work, the pieces started to fall into place for Wilson.

It’s not just individual users writing romantic messages using AI; online dating companies are also stuffing the tech into their apps.

Firms like Match Group, which owns industry stalwarts such as Hinge and Tinder, are releasing new features to summarize dating profiles, suggest ways to maximize the number of matches, and flag unwanted messages.

Some apps go as far as to suggest “icebreaker” opening lines, drawing criticism and even scrutiny from regulators.

We’ve also come across apps that use AI to harass women, or create videos of people kissing without their consent. Earlier this year, the Financial Times reported that a woman’s recent date had used ChatGPT to write a psychological profile on her.

Last year, Gizmodo reported on a Moscow-based man who programmed OpenAI’s GPT large language models to talk to well over 5,000 women on his behalf — and eventually meet his future wife.

Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd made headlines after saying that she believes the future of dating will involve having your personal AI “dating concierge” talk to hundreds of other AIs to find a perfect match.

Going even further, apps like Replika are allowing people to cut out human contact altogether, providing a platform for lonely people to create entirely AI-generated romantic partners.

Needless to say, harnessing the power of AI without turning dating into a data-focused race to the most matches possible is anything but easy. It’s a slippery slope that could lead to confusion and disappointment.

“People will use AI to alter their photos in ways that aren’t necessarily achievable for them, whereas when you use it for messages, you’re using it in a way that is amplifying yourself and your ability to have conversations,” Amanda Gesselman, a Kinsey Institute psychologist, who has done research with Match Group, told WaPo.

AI is already shaping user behavior on dating apps. Match’s head of trust and safety Yoel Roth told the newspaper that AI is successfully dissuading users from sending “something potentially offensive, abusive or weird” with prompts.

But is any of this really the pinnacle of authenticity, or the best way to find a romantic partner online?

For many, using ChatGPT to keep conversations going is unlikely to win over hearts in the real world, as Wilson’s disappointing date showed. He decided to give the woman a second chance, but ultimately found that they simply “weren’t a good pair.”

More on AI dating: Bumble Founder Says Future of Dating Is Your AI Will Date Other People’s AIs and Hook You Up With the Best Matches