The launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT this month has ushered in a new era — of social feeds clogged with screenshots and discussions of the chatbot and its seemingly infinite uses. TikTokkers didn't hesitate to divulge how they're using ChatGPT: to message Tinder matches.
Using AI in dating apps isn't new. For years, programmers have been trying to further gamify the game of finding love on your phone. These Tinder users created bots to swipe and message for them and can do so with hundreds of users at a time. It's no surprise that Tinder bans users who do this, but even the app itself utilizes AI to generate conversation starters:
Those using ChatGPT, however, are putting in a bit more manual effort. Once they match with someone, they ask ChatGPT for an opening message based on their interests. Then they copy and paste the output and send it to their match. And honestly? From what folks are posting on TikTok, it's working.
One "Tinder veteran" used ChatGPT to generate a poem for the six-foot woman he was messaging. She loved it, saying a guy hadn't written a poem for her before. The caption on the video claimed this is the "future of Tinder."
Here's another example, this time a TikTok user requesting a weight lifting-themed opener. ChatGPT spit out, "Do you mind if I take a seat? Because watching you do those hip thrusts is making my legs feel a little weak."
Once again, the receiver of the message enjoyed it and soon dropped her Snapchat.
As with using an AI bot to completely use Tinder for you, there are potential ethical concerns at play here; the dominant from these examples is disclosure. How would a match feel if they knew your messages were AI-generated? Are you lying by omission by not telling them a bot actually "wrote" the message? What if they were using ChatGPT to message, too — then would it matter?
These are questions we can't yet answer but surely will have to grapple with as AI becomes further embedded in our lives. As one TikTok user captioned, "AI just too overpowered."
