New AI functions are popping up in dating apps quicker than you can say “Skynet”. One new app is offering an AI ‘helper’ that aids your matches, others have introduced AI-assisted “nudges”, while a group of academics have sent a stark warning about the effects this could all have.
Elsewhere in the dating app world, a new Babygirl film-inspired desire to match with people far younger (or indeed older) than yourself may be taking effect, an app for music lovers is expanding, and another pricey app aimed at attracting “high quality” men has launched.
AI wingman warning
A group of academics has sent an open letter to the UK government, its government-approved communications regulatory agency Ofcom, and the US Federal Trade Commission, warning about the introduction of new AI functions to dating apps.
Various dating apps are introducing AI-assisted functions, from photo selection help to chatbots that produce suggested messages to people you match with. In the letter the academics warned that AI functions could make manipulating users easier, and called for “adequate guardrails and education” in the sector.
They wrote that risks of AI use in dating apps could create “unrealistic expectations around body image”, reinforce “algorithmic biases” regarding gender, race, class and disability, and increase “anxieties around in-person dates, where gen-AI ‘wingmen’ may not be available.”
They added that “misrepresentation and deception are rife online, and use of gen-AI risks worsening this to the detriment of dating app users who value authentic intimacy.”
Match Group’s AI nudge
Not all dating app AI functions are designed to help you come up with deceivingly witty message replies, though. Match Group, which owns Tinder and Hinge, has introduced an AI ‘nudge’ function to detect messages that may be abusive or overtly sexual.
When the AI detects that a message like this is about to be sent, it will ping the user a message asking them if they really want to send it. Yoel Roth, head of trust and safety at Match Group, perhaps unsurprisingly said (paywall) that the function was aimed at “men especially”.
Match Group said that the new function has caused a fifth of users who get these messages to reconsider them. Presumably four in five people go on to send that message about how lovely and big their dong is, or whatever it was they were typing.
Amata’s AI avatar ‘helper’
Staying with AI, new dating app Amata is going headfirst into artificial intelligence by creating a ‘dating guide’ avatar in the app, that offers you matches as it gets to understand you, and uses its artificial intuition to tell other app users about you.
The app was reviewed in Elle, with writer Rebecca Mitchell pointing out that her AI avatar ‘helper’ ended up going around telling other Amata users that she was writing a novel, when she in fact was not.
“Nuance is not Amata’s strong suit,” Mitchell wrote. “Nor is the difference between ‘would like to’ and ‘am’.” Those letter-writing academics may be breathing a sigh of relief.
Cherrish fishes for “high quality” men
A new premium dating app that men can only join if they’re recommended by a woman has launched, with its owner saying it is designed to only attract “high quality” men.
Cherrish costs 60 Euros per month to join, for both men and women, with no introductory free subscription available. The idea is that the pricing will help ensure that timewasters won’t join the app, which is powered by ‘wingwomen’ users who recommend trusted men to join.
The app is designed to be audio-first, with men having to submit voice note answers to questions about their lives and views, to ensure that potential matches can understand them more deeply than they would with the usual swipe’n’chat.
Cherrish is advertised as an app “where men aren’t intimidated by female success, and “don’t see a successful woman as competition but as a true partner”.
Bianca Praetorius, founder of Cherrish, told Business Insider (link in German): “The marketing effort will be to redefine the image of masculinity. I remember a time when oat milk was an eco-vegan hippie concoction from the health food store – and then Oatly came along.”
Dating app for music lovers expands
A dating app that could drastically increase the chances of listening to a decent sex music playlist, should matches lead to dates or more, is gaining traction.
Vinylly was initially launched in the US, and recently went live in the UK. Billed as a dating app for music lovers, it offers you matches based on your linked Spotify habits, and promises to offer you more matches the more music you listen to. Date suggestions include going to gigs in nearby venues.
Non-Spotify users can also use the app, and self-edit music playlists within it.
Rachel Van Nortwick, CEO of Vinylly, said: “As it turns out, about 70 percent of singles say that music that doesn’t match with their [music taste is]… a dealbreaker”.
‘Babygirl’ effect hits dating apps (possibly)
We should always treat the results of surveys commissioned by brands with caution, but one released recently by Lelo about dating app age ranges getting wider has struck a cultural nerve.
According to the survey, more than 80 percent of dating app users had broadened the age ranges in their apps in the previous year. This has led to claims of a ‘Babygirl effect’, based on the plot of the recent film Babygirl, which featured Nicole Kidman’s character Romy (below) having a relationship with a much younger man (who, we should probably point out, she didn’t meet through an app).
Former culture Bible Dazed noted that “intergeneration romance” had also been depicted in the recent films The Idea of You, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy and Lonely Planet, making it semi-officially a media trend.
However, to Lelo’s dating app survey, only 14 percent of women aged 45-55 who responded were open to a relationship with a younger partner, so maybe Kidman hasn’t caused such an enormous culture shift quite yet.
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