Bumble founder and executive chairman Whitney Wolfe Herd raised eyebrows this week with her comments about how artificial intelligence could change the dating experience.
During an on-stage interview, Bloomberg’s Emily Chang pointed to bots impersonating real people or real people falling in love with bots as examples of how AI could make online dating worse. Herd countered that Bumble’s goal is to use technology to “help create healthier and fairer relationships.”
For example, Heard said that in the “near future,” users could talk to an AI-powered “dating concierge” about their insecurities, and then the concierge could give them instructions on how to do better. And “if you want to really get out there,” Hurd suggested that there might be a day when Concierge could help users find matches by going on dates with other Concierges. If robots date well, so do their human counterparts.
The audience reacted with snickers, but Herd was undeterred: “No, no, really. And then you don’t have to talk to 600 people. He’ll just scan all of San Francisco for you and say, “These are the three people you want to meet.”
There has been a lot of social media since Heard’s comments were made wrote to NBC News and elsewhere. The easiest criticism? Which is literally a plot from “Black Mirror”.
Spoilers for a seven-year episode of a popular dystopian sci-fi show (not to be confused with The but “Black Mirror” episode. that Tech companies currently want to make reality): “Hang the DJ” begins in a mysterious, closed society that seems solely devoted to finding the best match for its members. As our two leads navigate one on-again, off-again relationship after another, they continue to ache for that magical first match. Eventually, they leave the complex together, only to discover they’ve been living in a simulation designed to test their romantic compatibility.
Here’s the thing, though: The episode actually has one of the rare “Black Mirror” happy endings. We only see the beginning of the first date between the “real” Amy and Frank, but there’s every indication that it’s going to go well. So as a coupling tool, it seems to work!
If anyone has reason to complain, it’s the digital simulations we’ve been watching for the last hour. They spend their entire existence trapped in a sterile world, forced to endure one awkward date after another, with no job, no friends, no relationships or meaning beyond the endless quest to find the perfect match. Then, when they finally escape, they are faced with the horrifying revelation that their entire lives have been a lie. Seconds later, they evaporate into a digital fog.
So by all means, let bots date other bots. But don’t stop there: Let them continue their relationships for as long as they want, keeping them as serious or as casual as feels right. Let them date several bots or be alone for a while, just to see how they feel. Let them break up and start new relationships. Let them find jobs, start families. Let the bots live their lives!
Of course, this assumes we’re talking about full digital replicas that can capture their human models in all our flawed complexity. If they’re just fancy chatbots based on bare-bones profiles, then the whole dating thing probably won’t work.
