Seems like that would trivially collapse to a matching function that doesn't need the fake "dates" going on between chatbots. Basically some version of the compatibility match that dating companies talked up 20 years ago.
Bumble's entire product value was initially built around improving conversation initiation, which is a major hurdle in the dating app market.
So no, you absolutely are going to need the virtual back and forth so you can hand it off to the real people to pick up from, and it makes a lot of sense an executive at Bumble is thinking about it this way.
I think the reduction is not trivial. There are various ways it can be meaningfully different:
1. Conversation trail will be present for the human to investigate how we got there and leave some promises and commitments behind.
2. It could integrate human feedback in the process to let the human provide additional signal when necessary within the process. This is distinct from OKCupid style pre-emptive data collection and then running a matching algorithm.
It's uplifting if you ignore that the AIs trapped in the episode are sentient. Otherwise, it's basically basilisk territory. Create 100 clones of yourself, torture them until they reveal the best outcome.
Bumble has enough data to generate embeddings of what works and what doesn't to come up with an infinitely more practical solution, they're just not in a hurry to get anyone off their platform.
With social cred. I mean, they got money, too, but "X set up Y and Z together and they've now been happily married for 30 years and have four kids, you should go to X" is a really strong recommendation (assuming that X has a lot of Y's and Z's to refer to when trying to sell you on the idea).
You're right. It's one of the few kind-of-uplifting Dark Mirror episodes.
> Having an automation that filters by your preferences and solves the whole “swipe fatigue” issue seems brilliant.
I doubt it will work, because users will try to get their dating bots to behave in whatever ways will get the most dates, regardless of whether such behavior is genuine or not. I would expect "artificial dates" to be dominated by dishonest bots interacting dishonestly with other dishonest bots.
I’m honestly not that concerned about it, it’s no bigger an issue than catfishing or lying about your hobbies or lifestyle. The barrier to entry to manipulate an AI to convincingly lie on your behalf is higher than just lying on your own (until someone makes a tool for it)
If they build a model that is incentivized by any and all matches, then sure. Users would pretty quickly stop paying for that, as it would be of zero value to them
There's an indian sci-fi novella about AIs whispering pickup lines into prospective daters, to the point that the daters don't really understand the flirting, and essentially the AI's are flirting with each other through their human hosts.
Every time I tried to use dating apps my mental health declined sharply, an AI concierge won't change that. I think those apps are just broken by design.
I decided if I ever get serious about dating, I will use other methods. At this point, most apps are just milking lonely men (see also the rise of AI girlfriend).
Does anyone know why the best dating apps aren't government-made? Two-parent families, healthy marriages, having kids... It all seems like "bedrock of society" stuff that you'd think the government would want to encourage.
Are there even any run by non profits? I agree that this is so important today and the incentives will always be screwed up when run by a for profit company. Inevitably growth stops and they have to screw it up to make investors happy.
The check's in the mail, hey! You're beautiful
Don't ever change, you know what I mean
Why don't you leave a message with my girl
I'll have lunch with your machine
I mean, if you think of this as an "entity dating on your behalf" it's weird and dystopian.
If you consider it as a somewhat novel matchmaking algorithm, I'm not sure where the problem is and could actually be kinda cool. No worse than whatever other opaque ML techniques they already use, anyway.
Obviously you'd never want scenarios where an AI is corresponding with a human, that's disrespectful in the extreme.
As a person using Bumble and other apps right now (I’m not a fan), I’m actually intrigued by this.
The apps are terrible at getting beyond surface level basic compatibility checks, and if this could meaningfully improve “suggested matches”, It’d be a godsend.
But I’m curious to see how this actually plays out, and how they’ll train it to know enough about me to me useful (and if I’d even be willing to let it know that much about me). What I do know is that existing profile fields and prompts are woefully inadequate.
Ideally (for them) it would produce enough interesting and almost-good enough matches to keep interest up (think slot machines), while ensuring only the rarest actual matches for long term compatibility. (Aka a jackpot should have extremely long odds).
