Dating apps use artificial intelligence to help search for love
Dating apps use artificial intelligence to help search
for love
Tinder founder Sean Rad told the Web Summit in Lisbon
that AI will "create better user experiences"
08 November 2018
LISBON (AFP) - Forget swiping though endless profiles.
Dating apps are using artificial intelligence to suggest where to go on a first
date, recommend what to say and even find a partner who looks like your
favourite celebrity.
Until recently smartphone dating apps -- such as Tinder
which lets you see in real time who is available and "swipe" if you
wish to meet someone -- left it up to users to ask someone out and then make
the date go well.
But to fight growing fatigue from searching through
profiles in vain, the online dating sector is turning to artificial
intelligence (AI) to help arrange meetings in real life and act as a dating
coach.
These new uses for AI -- the science of programming
computers to reproduce human processes like thinking and decision making -- by
dating apps were highlighted at the four-day Web Summit which wraps up Thursday
in Lisbon.
Online dating pioneer eHarmony announced it is developing
an AI-enabled feature which nudges users to suggest meeting in person after
they have been chatting in the app for a while.
"There is a lot of activity on dating apps but by
and large there is not a lot of dates," eHarmony CEO Grant Langston told
the annual tech gathering.
"Guys don't know how to ask, it's astounding really
how many people need help and we think we can do that in an automated
way."
- 'Takes pressure off' -
British dating app Loveflutter plans to use AI to analyse
chats between its users to determine their compatibility and suggest when they
should meet.
"We will ping a message saying 'You are getting
along really well, why don't you go on your first date'," said Loveflutter
co-founder Daigo Smith.
Loveflutter already suggests places to go on a first date
that are equidistant from both people's homes using information from
Foursquare, an app that helps smartphone users find nearby restaurants, bars
and clubs.
"It kind of takes the pressure off organising that
first date," said Smith.
Tinder founder Sean Rad said AI will "create better
user experiences" and predicted iPhone's Siri Voice assistant would in the
future act as a matchmaker.
- Voice activated -
An entirely voice operated dating app called AIMM which
uses AI to mirror a human matchmaking service is already being tested in Denver
where it has about 1,000 users.
When you open the app, a soothing voice asks questions
about what you like to do on a date or where you would like to travel.
It then suggests suitable matches based on your
personality. Once you have picked one you would like to meet, the app tells you
about them.
After several days the app will help set up a time for a
phone call between you and your match -- and give advice for your first date
based on what it knows about the other person.
"It will say things like 'based on her personality
inclination she is a traditional person, I would recommend dinner and a
walk'," said Kevin Teman, the app's developer.
The app also reminds you to ask questions "about the
things that are important to you" during the date, he added.
After the date, the app checks in with both people to see
how it went and recommend whether they should continue to see each other or
keep looking.
Teman hopes to make it available across the United States
early next year.
- Celebrity lookalikes -
Badoo, a London-based dating app, is now using AI and
facial recognition technology to let users find a match that looks like anyone
at all, including their ex or celebrity crush.
Users can upload a picture of someone and the app will
find lookalikes among Badoo's more than 400 million users worldwide.
Reality TV star Kim Kardashian, Oscar-winning actress
Emma Stone and singer Beyonce are the most searched for celebrities globally
since Badoo introduced the feature -- dubbed Lookalikes -- last year.
However not everyone is convinced that AI can aid the
search for love.
Among the doubters at the Web Summit was UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said he was "a little bit
sceptical" it could help "people chose their soul mates".
"I'm very happy I have chosen my soulmate by
traditional methods," said the former Portuguese prime minister, who is
married to a Lisbon city councillor, in his opening address to the gathering on
Monday.
© 2018 AFP
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