Artificial intelligence (AI) is the great disruptor of our time. It is not only shaking up fields, such as medicine and sex education, it is also entering the matchmaking game.
Carried out by top researchers at The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, the 13th annual Singles in America study shows that 14% of online daters say they have already used AI in the past and nearly a third report that it helped them meet potential partners faster.
The nationally representative US dating survey, funded by online dating company Match, reveals the benefits and dealbreakers of using AI to attract someone.
“We are driven to find love, and this is just the next way to do the same old thing,” said world-renowned love expert, biological anthropologist, and chief scientific adviser at Match, Helen Fisher, Ph.D.
Credited with de-stigmatizing online dating since the mid-2000s, Dr. Fisher returns to put new AI dating trends in perspective.
The survey
Started in 2010, Singles in America is the largest, most comprehensive annual scientific study of single adults in the United States.
“Every year, I and my colleagues cook up about 200 questions about sex and love and we poll 5,000 American singles. We do not poll the Match population. We polled the American public,” Dr. Fisher told le Shaw.
This year’s study asked singles about their dating habits and views on various topics, including artificial intelligence.
The results
AI-enhanced dating is still in its early stages, with just 6% of overall single daters using it to find partners.
Optimism abounds, however: more than 40% of young singles think AI can increase partner selection and compatibility. A third of all singles surveyed shared this positive outlook.
Dr. Fisher, on the other hand, says these views overestimate AI’s capabilities as a matchmaker.
“I don’t think anybody is totally capable of assessing compatibility. The only real algorithm is your own brain.”
The survey also reveals how singles who used AI applied it to dating. Many found it useful for getting matches:
- 43% used AI to write their dating app profile.
- 37% used AI to help write the first message.
- 27% said they received better matches using AI.
- 26% said they received more matches using AI.
- 32% said AI helped them meet new potential partners faster.
When polled on how singles want AI to improve their dating experiences:
- 34% said they want help sorting their matches.
- 29% want help creating their profile.
- 30% want help coming up with conversation topics for dates.
“In the case of AI, if it helps you write a profile, terrific. Maybe it helps you come up with conversation topics. Terrific. You don’t have to use it. It’s just a helpful professor,” said Dr. Fisher.
“All it does is help you jumpstart the courtship process.”
AI dating red flags
Not all AI use in dating was seen in a good light. In fact, Dr. Fisher says she was not surprised 46% of singles viewed using AI to alter images as a deal breaker.
“That really upset them. Looks do count; they say a lot about who you are,” said Dr. Fisher.
“They don’t say everything. But it’s just one more element in a huge range of elements that drive you to one person rather than another.”
Another non-negotiable for 39% of respondents is if a person uses AI in all of their online conversations.
Who will use AI?
Using AI to meet new people may draw specific types of personalities faster than others, says Dr. Fisher.
She speculates that high-dopamine risk takers, or high-testosterone types who she says are “more techie” may make the leap first.
As for dating sites, a spokesperson for industry giant Match Group says the company is testing and exploring the use of AI across its businesses. “We hope to have news to share about where and how we’ll be incorporating AI into our dating products later this year,” Amy Canaday, the director of public relations and marketing told le Shaw.
Still, Dr. Fisher points out that while AI technologies are facilitating introductions in new ways, they haven’t changed the matchmaking game. “Nobody’s going give you the perfect person. They don’t know. But we can give you some people who would be in the ballpark, and that’s what all of the dating sites are doing.”
What the results highlight is the potential for AI to improve and speed up the process of meeting someone new.
“Those are good things,” said Dr. Fisher. “It’s a lot of work, finding love, and if anything can come along and help you do it, I think that’s a plus for humanity.”
