People will date AI partners

and believe it's real

Author

Bas Prass
April 26, 2024 • ⏱️ 7 minutes

Presented by

👋 Hi all,

It’s been a hell of a week since I needed to juggle daily work, this newsletter, and a baby boy, but things are going great. Today, I want to shine some light on an emerging trend in dating AI partners, A.K.A., a person who doesn't exist. It’s starting to become more normal-ish. Thank you to two of the tools I use that are now sponsoring my newsletter!

Enjoy,

Bas

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
📬 TODAY’S TOPICS

  • People will date AI partners: and believe it's real

  • Bas’s bookmarks: What I liked, learned, and loved this week

  • Tweet of the day: this made me think 

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Issue #33

The latest trend was shocking: more and more people are in a (serious) relationship with their AI girlfriend/boyfriend. It already happened that a woman married her AI boyfriend a few months ago, which is kind of crazy.

I did some research the past few days because my new day job is leading all AI initiatives in the agency group I'm a partner in. While apps like Tinder and Raya already use AI, this trend entirely skips humans. There’s no matching since AI creates your perfect (fake) partner. There are websites (not going to link for NSFW reasons, but Google ‘candy ai’ if you want to see for yourself) where you can call your partner. Again, this isn’t a real human being when I say partner.

Some people (primarily men for now) spend thousands of dollars on their AI partners by chatting with them or requesting photos. They spend hours on their phones chatting with their AI significant other about their life choices, career adventures, or how they should spend their evenings.

This trend going hand in hand with the earlier editions I wrote about the loneliness economy since the number of single (elderly) people is rising on a global scale. While I’m a fan of using technology (AI) to benefit human interactions, help to match potential partners better, or help them with their social chats, I’m not a fan of AI taking over humans in this particular example.

I will keep an eye on this trend since I already mentioned that my interests and this newsletter are shifting toward AI-related stuff.

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📢 TODAY’S SPOTLIGHT

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WHAT I LIKED, LEARNED & LOVED
🧡 BAS’S BOOKMARKS

• Time is ticking for TikTok ⏰
I’ve said it before and will repeat it: TikTok will be banned sooner or later. This news broke early this week: TikTok must be sold (to an American company), or the app will be banned in the United States. I'm curious to see if this will be a topic for the upcoming elections later this year.

• Remember the hype about the AI Rabbit R1 Device 🐰
A few months back, people went crazy over the launch of a little Gameboy look-a-like device called the Rabbit. The Verge wrote an early hands-on review about the good, bad, and the ugly.

THIS MADE ME THINK
🧠 TWEET OF THE DAY

Thanks for retaking the time this week. If you appreciate my thoughts, please share this newsletter with your peers and share your feedback via the comments or hit the reply button; I answer all my emails 📬

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