Cyber-Dating: Everything You Need to Know About AI and Chat Bots. Image credit: AdobeStock
Yet, it’s important to look at expert opinions on what is poised to change in the coming years. Beyondthecharter reveals the secrets of using artificial intelligence in dating services and how chatbots talk to users.
There have been dozens of dating assistants on websites throughout the years. The original dating chatbots emerged sometime in 2017, with sites like Match.com leading the way. These bots could engage you in a conversation, answer questions about the site, and more. The chatbots have gotten so life-like in their communication that it takes an average person a few direct interactions and requests to determine if the bots are human. Still, Forbes states that 86% of people prefer personal interactions to chatbots, but 62% of humans don’t mind using them. These can be useful is a person is trying to hone their opening message on a dating site, but it can also be disappointing because these chatbots aren’t capable of carrying out a relationship.
The chatbots that we see on dating sites today are not true AI. Although they might seem very responsive, spend a little time “talking” with one and you’ll see that it’s a simulacrum. In the most basic sense, a chatbot on any website right now will analyze your sentence, pick out keywords, and attempt to respond with a sentence that is still about the same topic. If you were on a dating site and said “friendships”, then the chatbot might respond with a non-specific, pre-programmed sentence such as “I think we should stay friends, too.” While websites are getting better at simulating human interactions, due in part to computer learning, they’re still a way off from becoming true partners with whom to talk. As they continue to learn, the closer they come to passing the Turing test and acting as though they’re a real human.
AI will eventually be utilized in dating services in many fashions. From concierge services of directing people around the site to helping people build better dating profiles, AI will be everywhere. Some people are worried about the amount of data collection required for such a service to be impactful for a particular user, though. Consequently, some site users may never wish to adopt AI dating services at all. Aside from profile construction, AI can also identify trends in online dating particular to a single user or users in general and help a person optimize their searches, profiles, and pictures to get the most attention possible.
Another major impact that AI will have on the future of dating sites is cybersecurity suites. Presently, the security on a site is protected by various kinds of coding, but it’s a losing battle. People are using dating sites for scams, to promote spam, and to simply harm people. However, the fact of the matter is that AI will become a powerful tool to identify and remove such negative aspects and behaviour from dating services. AI can look at the information in a way that is much faster and more geared towards identifying trends that demonstrate a person is acting in bad faith. The AI will find scammer accounts, automatically dispel spam, and remove people from the dating site that have no business using it. We’re a while away from this level of AI integration into dating sites, but they’re getting smarter every day.
Using the dating sites of the future will ensure that people have experiences with AI. Chatbots and security are just two ways in which we’ll see the appearance of AI in the near future. However, that doesn’t mean you need to worry about seeing a true AI or prepare to have your data combed over. As a technological society, we are still several years away from seeing the true form of AI emerge and impact our sites.