Meet the partner of your digital dreams.

Much like social media and streaming, dating apps have really revolutionized the way we live our lives. Treating people like a long list of disposable commodities didn’t really sound all that great as a concept to me, but they’re all the rage, so who am I to get in their way?

But even though these apps streamline a lot that goes into the dating ritual, there are still bound to be awkward exchanges and even the occasional disaster or five. Perhaps, that’s why middle-aged men in Japan are getting into a whole other realm of dating with Loverse, a dating app where everyone you encounter is generated by AI.

Signing up is free, but a 2,500-yen (US$17) per-month plan is also available, in which people can swipe through profiles of as many potential partners the AI can generate and click like on the ones they want to pursue a relationship with.

▼ They’re all waiting (i.e. dormant) to meet you!

However, that doesn’t guarantee things go any further. The virtual denizens of Loverse are given free will, or at least the illusion of it, and can turn you down right off the bat if they aren’t feeling you. Don’t let it get you down, though. There’s still plenty of fish in the sea, and more can be generated if need be.

These men and women are specifically designed to have human-like behavior too. The jobs and hobbies in their profile dictate how busy they are, meaning they won’t have time for your chit-chat if the Takeda account needs to be closed by six o’clock sharp.

According to Loverse, they also don’t perform superhuman feats like talking to thousands of other real people at the same time. What that means is a little ambiguous, though. They didn’t specifically say it was one woman per man and vice versa, so maybe some of the AI people even play the field a little bit before committing to someone?

According to a company survey, a majority of users are male, in their 40s, and married, and as a 40-something married male, I can kind of get that. I, and probably most my age, got married before dating apps existed and never got to experience them. This is kind of a way to just see how it all works and satisfy curiosity about this new social phenomenon in a safe and controlled environment.

▼ According to Loverse’s chart, romance is typically only available in your teens and 20s, before marriage, kids, and old age murder it. But with Loverse, the romance and emojis can go on forever!

That doesn’t quite explain why it’s mostly men though, so I’m sure there’s lot of other reasons too. Perhaps that’s why Loverse is taking measures to ensure people don’t get too mired in synthetic relationships. Every message comes with a disclaimer that reads, “This is fictitious.” Also, should anyone bring up the topic of self-harm, they’ll be redirected to government-run consultation services.

Many online comments, however, seemed to feel it’s a lot of time, effort, and money to invest in a fictitious relationship.

“Just talk to ChatGPT.”
“What’s the point of going to the trouble of falling in love with an AI?”
“So, it’s a virtual cheating app then?”
“They already have dating sims.”
“This is like Seaman, isn’t it?”
“What a strange world we live in.”
“I wonder if this would be considered cheating in a divorce proceeding.”
“It would be really cool if there were like 99 AI people but one real one randomly mixed in.”
“Doesn’t it feel empty?”

I suppose whether this is a truly empty endeavor is up to the individual. I get pleasure in virtually taking part in the Super Bowl on my PlayStation, and wouldn’t say it feels empty even though it’s completely fake too, no matter how good the graphics get.

Source: Asahi Shimbun, Itai News, PR Times
Images: PR Times
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