Love in the times of AI: Your digital avatar might soon go out on dates for you

You probably don't know it yet, but you already use AI in a bunch of different ways, every single day. Artificial intelligence chooses what you scroll, what you watch, what food you drool over, and even what music you listen to. But soon, it could change the way you socialise, AI may even decide your life partner for you too.

The founder of Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd, hasrevealedhow the dating app may include AI 'concierges' who go out on dates with other people's 'concierges' and then find potential real-life dates for you.

This has been pegged as a move to use AI to reduce endless matching and help in finding meaningful relationships.

"You don’t have to talk to 600 people. It will go scan all of San Francisco for you and say, ‘These are the three people you really ought to meet.’ That’s the power of AI when harnessed the right way,” said Herd at the Bloomberg Technology Summit.

Thus, using AI might be a good way to protect ourselves and cut out the clutter.

But concerns have also been raised owing todata breaches, with the app sometimes revealing the user's exact location and sparking safety concerns. One in three dating app users alsoreportedfacing racial discrimination and fetishization by other users. Will AI prevent or exacerbate such problems?

Public opinion on AI and dating being mixed remains divided.

Iqra, a dating app user for more than a year, says, "I would definitely consider AI dating. Online dating is an energy-consuming and tiring task. Wasting my energy over and over again in hopes of finding 'the one' sometimes takes a toll on my mental peace. If AI concierge can cut out this draining step, why not opt for it?"

"It sounds intriguing, but it's crucial to maintain a balance between technological assistance and genuine human connection. I appreciate the potential efficiency and accuracy AI could bring to matchmaking, but I'd be cautious about privacy and ethical considerations before fully embracing such a service," said Adrien, a newbie in online dating.

Another user Mukul said, "The matches anyway 'match' on the basis of so-called mutual interests and looks. It's a detached or detachable process — swiping left or right. Let AI do it too. You'll assess that match after interacting with the person. So the ball would finally be in your court and not AI's by the end of it."

As artificial intelligence advances, we can expect such unique and out-of-the-box ideas. But how much we accept and embrace them, remains the million-dollar question.