IS AI THE ANSWER TO TRUE LOVE?

LOUISE JESPERSEN | JULY | 2018

When I was a little girl, I always dreamt of my one true love who whisk me away and we’d live happily ever after. Unfortunately, life isn’t a Disney movie as well as the evolution of online dating. The modern technology miracles made finding a partner a whole lot easier. Now we can conveniently swipe our way through pools of “potential partners” from the comfort of our homes. With Artificial Intelligence (AI) we can swipe our ways to love using data in numerous dating apps.

Perhaps, the reason for not being able to find our prince charming ourselves is because we don’t know ourselves well enough to decide who we could happily spend the rest of our lives with. We all know the feeling of swooning over a person we have met online, but after meeting them in real life, the sweet anticipation is replaced with bitter disappointment. According to Paul W. Eastwick and Eli J. Finkel of Northwestern University research on speed dating revealed preferences regarding “hypothetical partners” considerably changed after meeting the person face to face. Another problem with online dating is the parody of choice. As Barry Schwartz put it, “The fact that some choice is good doesn’t necessarily mean that more choice is better.”Fortunately, thanks to the exponential growth of smart technology, the way partners are paired up online should provide a better dating environment.

Currently, a few dating apps and websites are using advanced technologies to help singles find quality matches. BELONG is a new dating app which helps people move quickly from match to meeting in real life by enabling users to manage dates with limited online interaction. The app curates personalized pairing and social events by using AI and Machine Learning (ML). It uses AI to examine each user’s location and behavioral data. Once the user is matched, the app uses all the user’s data to recommend date ideas, helping to choose the day, place and possible activities.

Still the idea of swiping through hundreds of potential partners, forming judgments based on what they look like in their photos or how great they sound in their description, all seems to be a bit haphazard and unbridled. AI will help control these mismatches and end the age of swiping by finding us the perfect partner.

“Machines will essentially open doors to a better understanding of ourselves” – eHarmony

In 2016, the “science-based” online dating agency, eHarmony, and Imperial College Business school joined forces to investigate how smart technology will transform the dating selection process. They conclude that the future of dating will depend on the rise of AI.

Essentially, smart technologies which will give us fundamental insights into our intra-personal consciousness regarding our own daily behaviors. This will ultimately change the way we choose our partners by matching us not only by our immediate desires but also our subconscious.

Can you imagine being matched with your future spouse from the data accumulated by smart technology? Soon, your “smart contact lenses” will be tracking the types of people you are attracted to the most, the GPS on your smartwatch will reveal how introvert and extrovert you are, and even the smart thermometer in your home will be tracking your preferred temperature.

Example situations of how our smart tech will affect dating in the future predicted by eHarmony and Imperial College Business School.

The thought of our smart devices creating our biometric profile could be quite alarming, but with all new technology, there will always be an underlying notion of fear. This is mainly because people are creatures of habit, that attain purpose in routine, and new technology disrupts this. Remember “Y2K” when the world prepared for the time apocalypse and then nothing happened? The reality is we will always be frightened of technology, especially new technology, but being matched because of yours and your partner’s smart device’s data will extensively help us understand what kind of companions are better suited for us from the very beginning.

AI will revolutionize the way we find our possible significant others and ultimately help us choose the right one. From our sleeping and exercise patterns to financial habits. Perhaps healthcare AI can even help prevent a broken heart.

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