It can be stated that technology is changing the dating industry. In 2017, 19% of the 14,000 questioned women, said that they met their husband through an online dating service (Matthews, 2017). The main goal of dating services is to fasten the whole dating process, this would eventually lead to a higher number of relationships enabled by technology. Without any automation, dating can be an intensive process given the used time and labor (Ghafourifar, 2017). Therefore, artificial intelligence, with names such as Bernie and Viola, are applied in different phases of the dating process.
Companies begin to implement A.I. to the first phase of dating with Bernie A.I. Bernie A.I is an algorithm which can be seen as an assistant who makes and enables personal matches (Ghafourifar, 2017). Based on pictures, facial recognitions and other data, the algorithm selects profiles that could be a match. After selecting profiles, Bernie will automatically send a personal text to a potential peer. The A.I. matchmaker only assigns the date to the user if the promising match gives a friendly and attracting answer.
The advancement of technology has provided more options for dating, but it also presents new challenges. Users of dating services cope with a major trust issue within the love industry, what is someone’s real relationship status and is the given age not a lie? Here is where Viola A.I. jumps in. Viola A.I. is a platform that combines love with blockchain and Artificial Intelligence technology (Viola.Ai, 2018). Viola A.I. brings back trust and transparency within the dating industry. If someone creates a profile on the platform, Viola A.I. will match his or her photo with a real-time video scan, after the match, Viola A.I. verifies the images with his or her social media accounts to be certain that the given input is trustworthy (Perlebach, 2017). Besides the users ID, relationships status will also be verified by the platform to be sure that the profiles are real (Thung, 2017)., Would you trust a recommended date based on algorithm?
Ghafourifar, A. 2017. How AI can help you find a date. Retrieved on 6 October 2018 from: https://venturebeat.com/2017/01/11/how-ai-can-help-you-find-a-date/
Matthews, H. 2017. Online dating statistics: Dating stats from 2017. Retrieved on 6 October 2018 from: https://www.zoosk.com/date-mix/online-dating-advice/online-dating-statistics-dating-stats-2017/
Perlebach, S. 201. Is Viola.ai the future of dating? Retrieved on 6 October 2018 from: https://medium.com/trusteddapps/is-viola-ai-the-future-of-dating-1d9c35a7feb2
Thung, C. 2018. Viola.AI— First AI and Blockchain based Platform for Dating and Relationship. Retrieved on 6 October 2018 from: https://medium.com/viola-ai/viola-ai-first-ai-and-blockchain-based-platform-for-dating-and-relationships-32984087e54e
Viola.AI. 2018. Retrieved on 6 October 2018 from: https://viola.ai
Dear Dina,
Thank you for sharing this post! Up until now I didn’t know about the Bernie and Viola AI technology, so thanks for the insight. To answer your question: “Would you trust a recommended date based on algorithm?”, I would say to some extend. First of all, the way technology is expanding and getting better and better everyday is revolutionary. Nowadays, people can’t live without it anymore. But, it also has several downsides that are not all known to society (see my post The Perils of AI). For example, the AI industry has almost no regulations. This means that a lot of data can be used for malicious purposes. This also applies to your dating AI technology example. Users need to reveal a lot of personal data in order to improve their chances. But what happens with the data? Ofcourse, nothing has to happen with it but we all know the Facebook example where they sold user information to other companies. Data security is becoming a real problem. To come back to your question, if people are okay with revealing this type of information about themselves I would say using the app could be very promising. AI technology is improving everyday and it will only get better for now on. But keep in mind to be very careful with what you share!
Kind regards,
Juju Rovers
Dear Dina,
Very interesting blog! I think people need these kind of online dating services because of the fast-moving and busy world we live in nowadays. As you already stated in your blog, dating can be an intensive process given the used time and labor. Online dating could solve this issue because you have a lot of options when it comes to potential partners and you can easily access their profile and make a move within a few minutes. Besides this, people tend to be more confident to speak to eachother online, which increases the chance to find the love of your life!
Kind regards,
Ghofrane Bouaissaoui