Suspicious about someone’s declared height on a dating app profile? Turns out that AI can root out height-related lies, to an accuracy of one inch. When the violent AI robot revolution takes place, let’s take comfort in that, at least.
Elsewhere in the dating app world, concerns have been raised about location functions in dating apps including Grindr, despite the app taking measures to protect people around the Paris Olympics recently. Meanwhile, some sneaky dating app tactics are taking place in the world of The Sims.
ChatGPT roots out ‘fake’ dating app heights
Height seems to be the physical feature people are most picky about on dating apps, so much so that many people list the figure prominently in their profile. Of course, some listed heights tend to be somewhat exaggerated.
Happily, a way to root out ‘fake’ heights has been discovered. A San Francisco resident named Justine Moore explained on X that women are using ChatGPT by uploading pictures of their potential dates, then using the AI to estimate the person in the photo’s real height, based on proportions and surroundings in the photos.
Moore said that she tested it out on friends and family, and found it accurate to within one inch. Maybe the next step is to get ChatGPT to write a quirky song about this revelation, or something.
Give Grindr a medal for Olympic safety…
The Paris 2024 Olympics are over, and we’re all mourning the lack of unexpected news stories about Snoop Dogg’s hype man efforts and cool South Korean pistol shooters.
There was, of course, the usual slew of interest in the amount of hookups going on in the Olympic village, where young, well-toned athletes get on the apps to organize gymnastic hook-ups.
Well done to Grindr, then, who took the decision to disable location-based features in the Olympic Village and other athletic sites at the events. The move was made to reduce the chance of Olympians from countries where being LGBTQ+ is illegal or comes with risks being identified. Grindr did the same thing at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Grindr said that when it first decided to do this, in 2022, “it was our way of ensuring that LGBTQ+ athletes could connect with each other authentically without worrying about prying eyes or unwanted attention.”
…But Grindr’s location safety may not be gold standard
While Grindr took location-based safety measures to help protect Olympic athletes using the service, questions have been raised about how easy it is to use the app, and others like it, to locate other users.
A research paper made in Belgium entitled Swipe Left for Identity Theft: An Analysis of User Data Privacy Risks on Location-based Dating Apps, highlighted the concerns. Researchers found that for 15 dating apps including Grindr, Hinge and Bumble, vulnerabilities were present that could allow users to triangulate another user’s location, accurate to a few meters.
The vulnerabilities were related to “trilateration”: a method utilized by GPS apps.
As the researchers explained: “Initially, the adversary roughly estimates the victim’s location… and places themselves in this location to be within proximity. The attacker then incrementally moves themselves until the oracle indicates that the victim is no longer within proximity, and this for three different directions. The attacker now has three positions with a known exact distance… and can trilaterate the victim.”
So, now the Olympic Village is closed, be doubly careful out there.
Dating app catfishing comes to The Sims
Recently an expansion pack for The Sims 4 called Lovestruck came out, that was the most ‘romantic’ incarnation of the series’ gameplay yet. It featured an in-game dating app called Cupid’s Corner (pictured below), that allowed your Sim to match with other pixelated potential partners.
Since the expansion pack came out in July, players have reported incidents of supposed potential catfishing related to the Cupid’s Corner dating app. Sims have shown up to dates looking unlike the images of them shown in the app, showing just how widespread dating app photo deceit is.
One player reported that a Sim was listed as a ‘Young Adult’ on the in-game app, but that an ‘Elder’ turned up to the digital date. It could be argued that Cupid’s Corner is rather realistic.
Bumble stock takes a plunge
Bumble’s overhauling efforts suffered another blow this month, as shares for the dating app nosedived by around one third in value, and as of August 15 were yet to recover, hovering around the $5.7 per share mark.
The average amount of revenue made from each Bumble user has dropped recently, despite new efforts to stimulate interest in the app, such as allowing men to make message contact first in matches. Whitney Wolfe Heard, Bumble’s founder, left her position as CEO in 2023.
Bumble’s struggles are not in isolation. Many of the ‘original’ dating apps that emerged in the 2010s have faced the prospect of their largely Millennial user base leaving the app due to settling down in relationships or seeking different relationship styles.
Tinder struggles precede Match Group staff cuts
Struggles are also occurring at camp Tinder, which Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Heard used to work for, before founding Bumble. BBC News reported that Match Group Inc, which owns Tinder as well as Hinge and OKCupid, is set to cut its global workforce by six percent following an eight percent drop-off in the amount of paying Tinder users.
Tinder recently revealed a new, ‘rizz-first’ app design seemingly launched to attract younger users. Some Match Group Inc investors have reportedly been calling on the company to deliver more value to shareholders.
Hinge, however, seems to be holding the fort better for Match Group Inc. The amount of people paying for Match has increased by around half from 2023 to 2024.
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