&w=3840&q=100)
AI-generated wingman on dating apps? Why you should swipe left
Feel like you need a little wingman action on dating apps? AI is here to help. Representational image/Pixabay
Many dating app companies are enthusiastic about incorporating generative AI into their products. Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder of dating app Bumble, wants gen-AI to 'help create more healthy and equitable relationships'. In her vision of the near future, people will have AI dating concierges who could 'date' other people's dating concierges for them, to find out which pairings were most compatible.
Dating app Grindr is developing an AI wingman, which it hopes to be up and running by 2027. Match Group, owner of popular dating apps including Tinder, Hinge and OK Cupid, have also expressed keen interest in using gen-AI in their products, believing recent advances in AI technology 'have the power to be transformational, making it more seamless and engaging for users to participate in dating apps'. One of the ways they think gen-AI can do this is by enhancing 'the authenticity of human connections'.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Use of gen-AI in online dating is not just some futuristic possibility, though. It's already here.
Want to enhance your photos or present yourself in a different style? There are plenty of online tools for that. Similarly, if you want AI to help 'craft the perfect, attention-grabbing bio' for you, it can do that. AI can even help you with making conversation, by analysing your chat history and suggesting ways to reply.
Extra help
It isn't just dating app companies who are enthusiastic about AI use in dating apps either. A recent survey carried out by Cosmopolitan magazine and Bumble of 5,000 gen-Zers and millennials found that 69 per cent of respondents were excited about 'the ways AI could make dating easier and more efficient'.
An even higher proportion (86 per cent) 'believe it could help solve pervasive dating fatigue'. A surprising 86 per cent of men and 77 per cent of the women surveyed would share their message history with AI to help guide their dating app conversations.
It's not hard to see why AI is so appealing for dating app users and providers. Dating apps seem to be losing their novelty: many users are reportedly abandoning them due to so-called 'dating app fatigue' – feeling bored and burnt out with dating apps.
Apps and users might be hopeful that gen-AI can make dating apps fun again, or if not fun, then at least that it will make them actually lead to dates. Some AI dating companions claim to get you 10 times more dates and better dates at that. Given that men tend to get fewer matches on dating apps than women, it's also not surprising that we're seeing more enthusiasm from men than women about the possibilities AI could bring.
Talk of gen-AI in connection to online dating gives rise to many ethical concerns. We at the Ethical Dating Online Network, an international network of over 30 multi-disciplinary academics interested in how online dating could be more ethical, think that dating app companies need to convincingly answer these worries before rushing new products to market. Here are a few standout issues.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Gen-AI can make dating apps fun again, or if not fun, then at least that it will make them actually lead to dates. Representational image/Pixabay
Pitfalls of AI dating
Technology companies correctly identify some contemporary social issues, such as loneliness, anxiety at social interactions, and concerns about dating culture, as hindering people's dating lives.
But turning to more technology to solve these issues puts us at risk of losing the skills we need to make close relationships work. The more we can reach for gen-AI to guide our interactions, the less we might be tempted to practise on our own, or to take accountability for what we communicate. After all, an AI 'wingman' is of little use when meeting in person.
Also, AI tools risk entrenching much of dating culture that people find stressful. Norms around 'banter', attractiveness or flirting can make the search for intimacy seem like a competitive battleground. The way AI works – learning from existing conversations – means that it will reproduce these less desirable aspects.
Instead of embracing those norms and ideals, and trying to equip everyone with the tools to seemingly meet impossibly high standards, dating app companies could do more to 'de-escalate' dating culture: make it calmer, more ordinary and help people be vulnerable. For example, they could rethink how they charge for their products, encourage a culture of honesty, and look at alternatives to the 'swiping' interfaces.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
The possibility of misrepresentation is another concern. People have always massaged the truth when it comes to dating, and the internet has made this easier. But the more we are encouraged to use AI tools, and as they are embedded in dating apps, bad actors can more simply take advantage of the vulnerable.
An AI-generated photo, or conversation, can lead to exchanges of bank details, grooming and sexual exploitation.
Stopping short of fraud, however, is the looming intimate authenticity crisis. Online dating awash with AI generated material risks becoming a murky experience. A sincere user might struggle to identify like-minded matches on apps where use of AI is common.
This interpretive burden is annoying for anyone, but it will exacerbate the existing frustrations women, more so than men, experience on dating apps as they navigate spaces full of with timewasting, abuse, harassment and unwanted sexualisation.
Indeed, women might worry that AI will turbo-charge the ability of some men to prove a nuisance online. Bots, automation, conversation-generating tools, can help some men to lay claim to the attention of many women simultaneously.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
AI tools may seem like harmless fun, or a useful timesaver. Some people may even wholeheartedly accept that AI generated content is not 'authentic' and love it anyway.
Without clear guardrails in place, however, and more effort by app companies to provide informed choices based on transparency about how their apps work, any potential benefits of AI will be obscured by the negative impact it has to intimacy online.
Natasha McKeever, Lecturer in Applied Ethics, University of Leeds and Luke Brunning, Lecturer in Applied Ethics, University of Leeds
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Google Play, Android ecosystem generated ₹4 lakh cr. in revenue for Indian app publishers in 2024: Google
Google on Wednesday said, based on third-party evaluations, the Google Play and Android ecosystem generated ₹4 lakh crore in revenue for app publishers and the wider economy in India in 2024, and supported the creation of 35 lakh direct, indirect, and spillover jobs in the country. According to Google, the Indian ecosystem comprises the second largest number of active developers on Google Play across the world, contributing over 10 lakh developer jobs in 2024. Building compelling offerings on Android, this ecosystem has played an important role in shaping the impact and inclusiveness of India's digital economy. Approximately 72% of surveyed Indian users claimed their first access to the internet was on an Android device; some 85% say their Android phone is one of the main ways they access digital public services, and 69% report first using AI through an app on their Android device. Device makers have also been able to make devices affordable due to the open-source nature of Android, which has assisted estimated savings of ₹25,200 crore in development and operating costs. At Google I/O Connect India 2025, an annual developer conference held here in Bengaluru, Google announced new initiatives and AI capabilities to support the Indian developer and start-up ecosystem in the country. These included localising data processing of its high-performance thinking model Gemini 2.5 Flash, new Agentic AI tools in Firebase Studio, a new training programme with one of the world's leading gaming engine platforms – Unity, and collaborations with 3 India AI Mission start-ups in building innovative solutions toward the development of India's Make-in-India AI models. Dr. Manish Gupta, Senior Director for India and APAC at Google DeepMind, who opened the event, said, 'Indian developers are writing the next chapter of India's success story, using AI capabilities to build real-world applications that are reaching millions of businesses and people across the country and the world.' Preeti Lobana, Country Manager, Google India, who held a fireside chat with Subrata Mitra, Partner, Accel on building enduring AI-driven companies during the event's opening keynote, said, 'India's developers are shaping how the world will use AI, and we're proud to stand with them. We're giving India the best tools, the most open platforms, and the strongest support to build boldly for the world, fostering a profound 'AI Productivity Leap' across businesses and start-ups.' Google said it was closely partnering with BharatGen at IIT Bombay to build indigenous Indic language Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text-to-Speech (TTS) models that would aim to make Gemma (a set of lightweight, generative artificial intelligence open models) more helpful in the Indic context, especially for historically underrepresented languages and governance applications.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
CBSE schools offering AI rises to over 4,500 in Class 9: Education ministry data
New Delhi: The number of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)-affiliated schools offering artificial intelligence (AI) as a subject to students in Classes 9 and 11 has seen a sharp rise, with Class 9 registrations surging by 1,833% — from 235 schools in 2019–20 to 4,543 in 2024–25 — and Class 11 by 1,080%, from 80 in 2020–21 to 944 in 2024–25, according to data shared by the union ministry of education in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The national board introduced AI as an optional elective skill subject in Class 9 from the academic session 2019–2020 and in Class 11 from 2020–21. (Representative image) Responding to questions raised by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Sujeet Kumar, union minister of state (MoS) in the ministry of education Jayant Chaudhary said that the board had signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Intel (Integrated Electronics) and IBM (International Business Machines) to promote an emerging technology-based curriculum in schools. 'The curriculum and the content for the AI course was prepared by the board with support of experts from Intel, IBM and other higher educational institutions,' Chaudhary said. The national board introduced AI as an optional elective skill subject in Class 9 from the academic session 2019–2020 and in Class 11 from 2020–21. The data shows that the number of students opting for the subject has seen a continuous rise. While Class 9 students opting for AI jumped by 2,900%, from 15,645 in 2019–20 to 4,69,454 in 2024–25, Class 11 student enrolment increased by 1,556%, from 2,048 in 2020–21 to 33,933 in 2024–25. School principals and technology experts said that the inclusion of AI in the school curriculum has become essential, and demand is growing due to its relevance in the present times and a changing mindset towards AI. 'With AI set to change how students will learn and teachers will teach in the future, we have trained our teachers in smart tutoring platforms to ensure our students are future-ready for digital classrooms. We believe that each student is different and hence our teachers are being trained to create customised study plans for weaker students and thus bring them at par with the others — by taking AI's help in tracking their performance,' Swati Yadav, principal of Bliss International Public School in Meerut, said. Principal of Modern Public School in Delhi's Shalimar Bagh, Alka Kapur, said, 'Their (students') interests are less about gadgets and more about exploring how technology works, affects life, and can be used responsibly to effect positive change. This reflects a change in mindset guided by curiosity with purpose.' Raising concerns about students becoming dependent on AI, principal of Shiv Nadar School in Gurugram, Sameer Arora, said, 'By using analogies, stories, and discussion, not just software, we help students understand not just how AI works, but what it means. Aligned with National Education Policy (NEP)'s vision for future-ready learning, our goal must be to teach students about AI, not lead them into dependence on it. However, before integrating AI in the school curriculum, schools must ask: Is it enriching student thinking? Does it free teachers for deeper engagement? Is it building capability or replacing it?' Co-founder of curriculum design organisation Nature Nurture Akshal Agrawal said, 'Over the past year or two, there has been a visible rise in students opting for AI electives. This is not just because of the buzz, it is because the subject feels real and relevant. Many students are genuinely curious to learn how the tech they use every day actually works. At the same time, there is growing awareness among parents and educators about the need to equip children with skills that go beyond academics.' The growing demand for AI elective subjects also reflects a change in mindset among educators and parents, said Anurag Gupta, CEO and co-founder of AI coding and robotics lab setup company STEMROBO Technologies Pvt. Ltd. 'They see the value in preparing children not just to use technology but to innovate with it. This momentum will only grow as schools continue to invest in 21st-century learning environments,' Gupta added. Minister Chaudhary said that from 2020 to 2024, CBSE has organised seven events, including two national skill expos, three ideathons, and two Future Tech Olympiads. 'A total of 35,000 students, including children who were part of the AI curriculum, have participated in CBSE events,' he said.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
As AI rises, some jobs may vanish for good, warns Sam Altman
Sam Altman warns of a few jobs vanishing due to AI. In a climate of accelerating technological change, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has delivered a sobering reality check: Artificial intelligence is no longer just transforming the workplace; it's poised to replace swathes of it. Speaking at a recent Federal Reserve conference in Washington, Altman offered an unflinching assessment of how generative AI could reshape human labor, raising both practical concerns and existential questions. The conversation around AI's impact on employment is far from new. But coming from one of the most influential voices driving the technology itself, Altman's remarks carry both authority and urgency. As the architect of ChatGPT and other cutting-edge AI models, he is not merely forecasting a trend; he is helping to build it. Customer support jobs could 'disappear entirely' Altman didn't equivocate when it came to the sector he believes will be first and hardest hit: customer service. According to a report by The Guardian, he stated plainly that AI tools are already capable of managing full customer support pipelines, from simple queries to complex problem-solving, with little to no human input. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Beyond Text Generation: An AI Tool That Helps You Write Better Grammarly Install Now Undo 'That's a category where I just say, you know what, when you call customer support, you're on target and AI, and that's fine,' Altman said in a conference. He emphasised that AI's ability to respond swiftly, accurately, and without fatigue or emotional friction makes it an ideal replacement for large parts of the service industry. This projection is more than theoretical. Across industries, businesses are already experimenting with AI-powered chatbots and virtual agents capable of holding nuanced conversations, offering troubleshooting steps, and even processing refunds or complaints—all tasks that once required human interaction. The healthcare paradox: Intelligence without intuition Altman's caution, however, was more nuanced when the conversation turned to AI's role in healthcare. While acknowledging the immense potential of models like ChatGPT to assist in diagnostics and patient care, he offered a personal and telling caveat. 'I would not want to rely on that without a human in the loop for my own healthcare,' he said. The statement reflects a critical tension in AI's application to medicine. On one hand, AI systems can process vast amounts of clinical data, synthesize symptoms, and deliver probabilistic assessments faster than any human practitioner. On the other hand, the human element, judgment, empathy, and ethical reasoning, remains irreplaceable, at least for now. Altman's perspective suggests a future where AI may serve as a co-pilot in medicine, augmenting decisions rather than replacing the physicians who make them. An uneasy future for human labour Beneath Altman's remarks lies a deeper concern: Whether the social and economic systems currently in place are prepared for the pace of displacement AI may bring. If sectors like customer support can be almost fully automated today, what happens when the same technologies become capable of more cognitively demanding tasks? It's a question that looms over policymakers, employers, and workers alike. While AI promises efficiency and scalability, it also threatens to destabilize employment in industries that rely on repetition, communication, and process management. What makes Altman's comments especially notable is the balance of ambition and restraint. As the head of an organization at the frontier of AI innovation, he is simultaneously accelerating its development and acknowledging the profound risks it poses to society if not accompanied by thoughtful oversight. A voice from the vanguard Sam Altman's comments don't just echo long-standing fears about automation, they sharpen them with specificity. With AI systems already proving capable of handling real-world tasks at scale, the timeline for adaptation is shrinking. Whether in call centers or clinics, the future of work will be increasingly shared with machines. The question is not whether change is coming, it's how quickly, and how humanely, we choose to navigate it. Ready to navigate global policies? Secure your overseas future. Get expert guidance now!
