If dating wasn’t hard enough, it seems profiles claiming to be generated by artificial intelligence have popped up on dating apps like Hinge.
on May 7th, vox Journalist Rebecca Jennings (@rebexxxxa) went viral on Twitter when she shared screenshots of “weird” dating profiles her friend came across while scrolling through Hinge. The dating app allows users to showcase their personalities by answering prompts.
But when a Hinge user noticed a recurring response on multiple male profiles, it prompted her to question whether the profiles were created by AI.
“My boyfriend noticed something odd about Hinge: men who write ‘I like all about culture’ on their resume,” Jennings captioned tweet. “What is this? Are they bots? Is it AI? Why are they all called Andy????? Please someone tell us what’s going on.”
Jennings included three screenshots of the alleged AI profiles in the tweet. Although the profiles appeared to be photos of different men, their names were all Andy, and each answered the question, “One random fact I love is…” with “I like all culture.”
In a separate postShe wondered who was behind the alleged bots creating fake dating profiles.
“If these are indeed bots, how are they made? Who is behind it and what do you possibly get out of it?! My friend sometimes tries to talk to them but they immediately stop answering. So when it comes to cheating, they seem bad at it???” she added.
The tweet has garnered nearly three million views on Twitter since it was shared on Sunday, as other users shared their theories about the strange dating profiles.
“My theory is that Hin is secretly hiring third-party companies to flood the app with bots to increase its active user count,” one person claimed.
“Definitely bots. I’ve seen several profiles that had a very specifically worded prompt response: ‘watch movies, go shopping, hang out with friends,'” said another user. “I feel like I’m seeing more and more of that routine, stilted language there. Strange translation problems?”
A third person wrote: “Idk if these are specifically fake but dating apps have fake accounts with attractive people that they use to keep people attached to the app. The conversations will be very brief and go nowhere, but it’s enough to keep people from throwing the whole app away.”
Others were simply disheartened to learn that online dating may have become more difficult with the invention of AI.
“Frightening,” replied one user.
“Ugh, if online dating wasn’t difficult enough,” said another.
Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time artificial intelligence has been used to help people find their perfect love match. Stefan-Pierre Tomlin, a 32-year-old model from Hertfordshire, claimed he was the “most stolen real man” on Tinder in 2017. Now he uses Chat GPT and AI technology to coach others to get matches.
Its subscription-based service called Celebrity Love Coach uses ChatGPT and AI to write attractive dating profiles and messages. The service also allows users to “subtly tweak” their profile photos, but Tomlin claimed “it’s not a scam.”
“You use a dishwasher to make your life at home easier — my clients use AI and our training to shape their dating lives for a fulfilling, long-lasting connection,” he said. “We change people’s images and adjust their biographies. Most people say it’s catfishing – it’s not.”
Last year, a man in New York City was able to date 49,000 women at the same time after he created an AI program that sent women’s messages only with quotes from American Psycho and James Bond films.
The Independent asked Hinge for comment.
