Not every technological innovation is a good one. Consider the emergence of AI chatbots for dating apps (which is like hiring heartless Twitter trolls to dress and coach an insecure teenager for their first school dance)– what could go wrong?
One romantic artificial intelligence website is Yourmove.ai. With its “profile poet” feature, it assists users in creating an ideal biography for their online dating profiles. Additionally, its “banter bot” generates AI-generated responses to any messages received. The popularity of Yourmove.ai is surprisingly large, with over 64,000 users already on the service. This indicates that the number of unsuspecting individuals engaging in conversations with chatbots are likely to reach the hundreds of thousands.
In order to provide a fair assessment, Rikki Schlott, a New York Post Columnist, decided to personally test out the service. Once it was up and running, the experience was smooth and effortless, eliminating any friction or effort typically associated with initiating a conversation. Users input a received message or upload a screenshot of their conversation, and the bot generates three potential responses to choose from. Conveniently, a “copy and paste” button is readily available, eliminating the need to retype the selected message for your potential date.
However, the conversational results of Rikki’s experimentation were far from impressive. It became evident that Yourmove.ai still has a way to go toward refining its capabilities. For instance, the bot suggests responding to a simple “hey” with either “Hey! What’s up?” or “Hey there beautiful, how’s your day going?” Moreover, the suggested responses to the classic “what’s up” include “just crushing it at life, what about you,” “just thinking about how lucky I am to be texting with someone as amazing and gorgeous as you,” and “just thinking about how I could make your day better.” Admittedly, it is still early days for artificial intelligence, and hopefully it has the potential to rapidly improve. However, even if the service achieves a certain charm, the entire concept of an AI acting the part of Cyrano de Bergerac remains dystopian.
On one hand, Rikki empathized with individuals who choose to embrace automation, as online dating is often an unpleasant experience. The act of no-swiping is tedious, and the feeling of being ghosted is draining. As someone who reluctantly engages with dating apps, Rikki understands the desire to minimize the time spent on mindless swiping and exchanging repetitive greetings. Nevertheless, introducing bots into this already unsatisfactory landscape only worsens the experience. It is disconcerting to think that a romantic soul may find excitement in a message crafted by an artificial entity. Those resorting to relying on a dating AI are either lacking in compassion or so devoid of character that they consider artificial pleasantries an upgrade. Regardless of the circumstances, they should be cautious to maintain the secrecy of their AI reliance. If anyone were to discover that they were conversing with a bot, it is highly likely that they would swiftly abandon the prospect. After all, what could be more degrading than learning that the person you like has delegated interaction to a robot and couldn’t be bothered to personally engage with you?
Dating apps have already stripped away the subtlety of flirtatious glances across a room and the anticipation of wondering if the other person reciprocates your interest. Swiping has smoothed over the inherent mess and discomfort of putting oneself out there. Now, bots are eradicating the effort required to make the first move altogether. What remains of the chase and pursuit? The elements that add depth and beauty to falling in love are gradually being drained from the process. Romance is ingrained in the human experience, and entrusting it to a digital assistant is an act that betrays intimacy itself.
The whytry.ai article you just read is a brief synopsis; the original article can be found here: Read the Full Article…