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Monday, 18 July 2022

Let AI take over your love life

So you’re turning to dating apps to find love, but don’t know what to do when you’ve found a match? You can now turn to AI dating coaches: With the advent of dating apps in recent years (think Bumble, Egyptian matchmaking app Hawaya, Tinder, etc), more money has been flowing into online dating services. Global consumers spent USD 4.2 bn on dating apps in 2021, marking a 95% increase in consumer spend since 2018 and a 30% increase since 2020, according to the State of Mobile 2022 report (landing page). However, research suggests that user satisfaction with these apps is lagging, with one survey from customer experience tool Tidio showing as little as 12% of dating app users are happy with their experience. Many users report negative experiences with online dating related to the quality of the matches and what happens after a match is made, according to a separate survey from an Australian app developer.

AI can help address these issues: Dating companies are now using artificial intelligence (AI) to provide a new suite of services that bring users closer to love. Widely-used dating apps such as Hinge, Tinder, and Badoo all already use AI and machine learning in their apps to find relevant matches for users. However, companies are now rolling out AI-enabled matchmaking services while other new AI-focused dating companies are emerging into the arena to help with the actual dating part.

So how does AI play cupid? A few years ago, Match.com in the UK rolled out Lara — an AI dating coach that’s available on smart home devices. Marketed as a “personal wingwoman,” users just have to ask their Google devices to speak to Lara and the chatbot helps provide unique daily matches, recommendations on where to go for dates, and dating tips such as what to talk about with their matches. “Using artificial intelligence and keyword recognition technology, Lara can understand your intentions and help you through your dating journey from start to finish,” Match.com explains.

It could also make your celebrity crush fantasies come to life: UK-based dating app Badoo uses facial recognition technology in its ‘Lookalikes’ feature to find matches that look like your celebrity crushes or other people you find attractive… even your ex.

Or AI could step in for your BFF to help you curate your own dating app presence: An app called Cupido lets AI judge your dating profile, from your pictures to your bio. Cupido will analyze and give you insights about your photos to “present your best version” and “represent your lifestyle and personality in order to attract the right people.” For example, Cupido can suggest that your pictures look awkward and can advise on whether they best represent your character and the activities you enjoy. The app also helps after swiping right on someone (which, for the uninitiated, is how to signal that you’re interested in someone), by studying your profile and the profile of your match to recommend conversation starters that will interest you both. It also follows the conversation along to help you detect what your match’s intentions are and what the next steps should be.

In some cases, it’s akin to a Black Mirror episode (“Hang The DJ”): AI dating coach app the Artificially Intelligent Matchmaker (AIMM) takes all this a step further. The app spends time with you throughout the day, asking you questions about what you like or don’t like such as if you’re a morning person or a cat person. It also asks about your relationship history to get a sense of how you react to commitment and your method of communication. After gathering data for a few weeks, AIMM — which is voice-enabled and will talk to you directly — will ping with a notification that you have a match. From there, the app will thoroughly explain why they chose this match and make an argument for why the other person is a suitable match.

A concierge service for dating? After finding you a match, AIMM will help you set up a call or a date by looking at times and days where you would be available to connect. Before the call or date, AIMM gives users a ton of advice on how to approach the other person and what subjects could bring on deeper conversations. After the meetup, the app comes back to ask how you felt and where you want things to go from there to continue the matchmaking process by reminding you to text them, compliment them, or even get them a gift for their birthday. We know this all sounds bizarre, we also found their explanatory video more than a little odd (watch, runtime: 08:17).

Whether these AI services take off or not, singles might want to brace themselves for the future of dating: As if trying to find your perfect match was not enough of a tiring process as is, the future of dating will likely include more AI as well as augmented reality and even DNA matchmaking, writes Forbes.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

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