Dr. Raffaele Ciriello

There's still a lot of people who are finding love online.

I just think that the experience is getting worse, right?

So more profit, but not necessarily better outcomes for society is what we're seeing and

Let's be honest, it's not likely that, you know, solving a problem that was caused by technology is going to be made any better by throwing more technology at it.

Another aspect is, of course, the modification of intimacy, right?

So you can always go back on another date and go back on the dating app and start from scratch.

That's part of the business model, right?

So these apps don't make a profit if you find the love of your life because then you don't come back, right?

And the way to make a profit and money is by keeping you engaged.

And of course, when you put AI into this, there is a real risk that the optimization is again for high intensity, high engagement, low friction.

And all of these are things that are, I think, on a fundamental level, incompatible with finding a meaningful relationship.

Now you can say, well, that's not what I'm searching for on a dating app.

I'm more into hookups and one night stands and that can be okay for a while.

But on an aggregate level, it has been quite damaging for society.

So I think a lot of younger people, you know, I'm kind of like a typical middle-aged guy now, but like, and my students and my PhD students and even the undergrad students, I sense that there's a lot of fatigues, a lot of fatigue around,

how dating, what has become of dating.

And I always tell them, hey, I'm really glad that I'm old enough to have met my wife before dating has become a thing, right?

So I was kind of

was kind of lucky enough to uh to have met found my love of my life just before that that happened now i think with ai we're gonna see a lot of change but it's not necessarily going to be better right so for one thing this commodification of intimacy is already something um i talked about with ai you know you could be cynical about this and say hey why don't we automate the whole process entirely right rather than just having an ai wingman

Why not digitalize the whole relationship?