Artificial intelligence the new Cupid

Forget swiping though endless profiles.

Dating apps are using artificial intelligence to suggest where to go on a first date, recommend what to say and even find a partner who looks like your favourite celebrity.

Until recently, smartphone dating apps – such as Tinder which lets you see in real time who is available and “swipe” if you wish to meet someone – left it up to users to ask someone out and then make the date go well.

But to fight growing fatigue from searching through profiles in vain, the online dating sector is turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to help arrange meetings in real life and act as a dating coach.

These new uses for AI – the science of programming computers to reproduce human processes such as thinking and decision-making – by dating apps were highlighted at the four-day Web Summit which wrapped up on Thursday in Lisbon, Portugal.

Online dating pioneer eHarmony announced it was developing an AI-enabled feature which nudges users to suggest meeting in person after they have been chatting in the app for a while.

“There is a lot of activity on dating apps but by and large there is not a lot of dates,” eHarmony’s CEO, Grant Langston, told the annual tech gathering.

“Guys don’t know how to ask. It’s astounding really how many people need help and we think we can do that in an automated way.”

British dating app Loveflutter plans to use AI to analyse chats between its users to determine their compatibility and suggest when they should meet.

“We will ping a message saying ‘You are getting along really well, why don’t you go on your first date’,” Loveflutter cofounder Daigo Smith said.

Loveflutter already suggests places to go on a first date that are equidistant from both people’s homes using information from Foursquare, an app that helps smartphone users find nearby restaurants, bars and clubs.

“It kind of takes the pressure off organising that first date,” Smith said.

Tinder founder Sean Rad said AI would create better user experiences and predicted iPhone’s Siri Voice assistant would in the future act as a matchmaker.

An entirely voice operated dating app called AIMM which uses AI to mirror a human matchmaking service is being tested in Denver, Colorado, and has about 1,000 users.

When you open the app, a soothing voice asks questions about what you like to do on a date.

It then suggests suitable matches based on your personality. Once you have picked one you would like to meet, the app tells you about them.

After several days the app will help set up a time for a phone call between you and your match – and give advice for your first date based on what it knows about the other person. –