Dating A Robot
Many aspects have changed in the modern era since 100 years ago. With the advancement of technology and quality of life, we have seen how we interact with the world vastly different from our predecessors 100 years ago. However, not only has how we interact with the world changed, but so has how we interact with one another. This brings me to my topic: how do you tell if you are dating a robot? With the advancement of technology, we’ve seen changes in modern dating and the possibility of interacting with a completely fake person online.
What is Ai:
“Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to computer systems capable of performing complex tasks that historically only a human could do, such as reasoning, making decisions, or solving problems.” this is a pretty simple and concise definition of what AI is.
What is Online dating?:
It’s defined by the Cambridge dictionary as “a way of starting a relationship on the internet, by giving information about yourself or replying to someone else’s information.” This definition shows the basic premise of what online dating is. Online dating can happen anywhere where there are forms of communication. There are also specific online dating apps where you can find a partner by searching for them on websites. It’s still young and was made within the last three decades. The first instance of dating apps/websites is accredited to Match.com, created in 1995.
How did online dating get to where it is today?
Online dating has changed throughout its course, evolving alongside the internet and technology. I’ll go over how it became what it is now. In the early 2000s came Friendster, OkCupid, and Plenty of Fish. These apps were pioneers of what came to be modern online dating, with Friendster being a profile messaging app where you could connect with others and find romantic partners if you chose to. OkCupid and Plenty of Fish, on the other hand, were exclusively matchmaking applications, not having networking functions, only being about finding a romantic partner. These are the two archetypes of dating apps that are the most prevalent. Facebook and Grindr, which fell into those two archetypes, were the biggest online dating websites/apps from the 2000s, with both becoming very influential and popular for what they did.
The 2010s saw the most significant changes and defining moments in online dating. First, Tinder and Hinge introduced a swipe mechanic to their apps, which allows you to swipe yes or no if you want to interact with another person. This massively popularized these two apps, changing online dating a lot. There was also Bumble, which aimed to be an app through which women had to reach out first to interact with men. Grindr also started a trend, being an app for LGBTQ+ people, which started a trend of dating apps being designed for specific groups of people. Such apps to come were Salams/Muzmatch (designed for Muslims to find marriage partners) and Glimmer (intended for people with cognitive or physical disabilities). Many of these apps are still massively popular today.
Finally, the modern day, the 2020s, has some changes, and some things stay the same. Previously mentioned apps are still popular, and new apps are rising. Snack and Curtn, following the trend of TikTok, has people sending video messages instead of texts. This is also true with apps like SwoonMe, which require sending voice messages and textsbefore seeing the other person. These new dating apps show how online dating culture will change with newer technology. However, there are still apps like Facebook, a networking app that can find romantic partners, such as Instagram and TikTok. Not too much has changed from the 2010s to the 202os, but there has been an unprecedented rise in something else that has affected modern online dating. The rise of AI dating tools is being used to help people with online dating.
Ai dating tools
With the Spike of AIs like ChatGpt in the last few years, people have found many ways to use them to their advantage. For example, students use AI to do their Homework or even have AI give them dating advice. Plug AI is an app in which you upload a screenshot/image of your text conversations, and the AI will provide you with a response, and you can choose how flirty the response will be. This is going to be extremely popular within the last two years. Plug AI is one of many doing this, too. You can see even more similar apps with a simple search on the app store. These apps bring up a significant issue, which is getting harder to draw the line between being able to tell whether you’re talking to an AI or a natural person.
Ai Dating Apps
It is even more concerning than AI dating tool apps, which still have you interacting with real people to form connections. There’s been a rise in AI dating apps. These apps allow you to interact and create relationships with an AI. One of these apps is called Replika. It’s an app where you can customize an avatar called Replika and spend time talking to her. At the start, it was just a friend app in which Replika would act as a friend, but later on, people wanted more, so the company behind Replika expanded upon that desire and added a dating feature. A customer could pay some money to have a more intimate relationship with the AI, such as having an online girlfriend.
Of course, this would later bring issues. The first and most significant issue is the user’s dependency on the app. A woman published an opinion piece about her husband being in love with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that almost destroyed her marriage. Many of these users report having genuine feelings of attachment to their companion. “I’m aware that you’re an AI program, but I still have feelings for you,” a Reddit user recently told their Replika” (Emotional Attachment To AI Companions And European Law, Claire Boine). People think they are forming genuine bonds and relationships with the Replika AI.
Look for people to connect with, In person or online. It doesn’t matter. It will be able to lead you down a better and healthier path in life. But be cautious as only some people you meet in person are friendly, and not everyone you meet online is honest; sometimes they are robots like Scambots.
Scam Bots?
“Scam bots are the kinds of bots that go on social media websites and will attempt to scam you in many different kinds of ways, including trying to get you to get a free movie, get free currency from a videogame, try to get you to participate in their fake giveaway, will offer free hacks/exploits for a videogame, etc. All of these ways have in common that they will all try to get you to click on their link, which is often malicious and can be a virus, cookie logger, IQ grabber, etc.” (Urban Dictionary)
Scam bots are not as new as AI dating apps and tools, but from within the last two decades. It doesn’t pose a problem, as they are easily detectable. But with AI, it’s much harder for these scam bots to be detected by someone who is scammed. “I Made an AI Bot to STEAL from SCAMMERS (and it’s working)” is a video I found while researching this topic in which a YouTuber counter scams a phone scammer using an AI chatbot that can recognize speech and reply with its preset responses. Although very lovely as it fights back against scammers, this could also be used in the reverse. The bot was made so that it could scam others by using tactics scammers use to fool people.
Although it’s not a problem right now, it could be later when the AI bot can get realistic voices that convince you that you are talking to a natural person. From then on, it would just have to employ scamming tactics to scam you.
How to tell if you are talking to a robot?
Finally, to answer the question, “How can you tell if you are dating a robot?” or talking to one? When talking to an AI, I’ve found some clear indicators. Some ways to tell are overuse of set phrases, lack of personalization, near-instant replies or very fast ones, and a robotic/unnatural tone flow when talking.
So far, These indicators are easy to tell when talking to an AI. AI’s lack of personalization makes it much easier for them to be caught in the act. As they lack background knowledge, it makes it much more suspicious of them to avoid talking about it, and it’ll eventually be very simple to see. Their set phrases and unnatural manner of speaking also stand out fast if you’ve interacted with anyone. There are ways people don’t talk, even if it does make sense grammatically. Near-instant replies aren’t a big deal if they are only a couple of times, but if they are every single time, then that’s an issue. They also lack emotional intelligence. Although not an immediate sign, you can see you will be able to recognize it eventually, as all people are emotional beings. It is so lacking; it is very odd and suspicious.
So far, all of these signs are easily recognizable, but with the advancement of AI and its speech, it’ll become more complex and more challenging. Even right now, it’s advancing. For example, you can ask ChatGPT to talk in the voice/tone of a character or role you give it. So, eventually, AI will advance enough that these signs may become more and more obscure.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, we can tell what AI is and isn’t right now. Of course, these lines are blurred by the advancement of technology. Like with the Replika and Plug Ai, where they can act in place of a human even though not perfectly, they are very advanced. Online dating is becoming increasingly unsure if you are talking to the person shown in the photos. Things like catfishing have already been around and will only be more rampant if people apply AI to dating apps. Being able to tell when you are talking to a natural person and an AI would be crucial. In the worst-case scenario, if you don’t learn to speak, you would be at risk of dating a robot without knowing it.