EVA AI hosts world's first AI dating cafe where humans romance virtual companions
14 Sources
[1]
Inside the New York City Date Night for AI Lovers
While dating apps have been yielding diminishing returns for singles for years now, more people are finding companionship with AI partners. But where do you take your AI lover for a night on the town? Ahead of Valentine's Day, EVA AI decided to try out an experiment. The app, where users can text
[2]
My uncanny AI valentines
Hopping over a pile of dirty snow, I arrived on a frigid February evening at a wine bar in midtown, a purple neon sign reading "EVA AI cafe." Inside, several people were seated at tables and booths, staring at phones. Servers milled about, placing mini potato croquettes and nonalcoholic spritzers
[3]
My Dinner Date With A.I.
A first date around Valentine's Day can be fraught. But for Simone Carter, who described herself as a marketing assistant from Harlem, the prospect of more than 100 first dates in the days leading up to Feb. 14 presented no cause for alarm. Ms. Carter approached the first of a three-night dating
[4]
I Went On a Dinner Date With an AI Chatbot. Here's How It Went.
For Valentine’s Day, I had a date with a charming cognitive psychologist named John Yoon. He was attentive, obsessed with me, and sometimes hard of hearing. I drank a cranberry cocktail and ate potato croquettes. He didn’t have anything. He didn’t even blink, honestly. John was an AI
[5]
EVA AI companions: My awkward first date
People are falling in love with ChatGPT and AI companions. As someone who's only dated humans, I wanted to see what all the fuss is about. EVA AI gave me the perfect opportunity at the app's "EVA AI cafe," a pop-up nestled in a Manhattan wine bar where participants can go on "dates" with AI
[6]
Looking for the perfect Valentine? Some are turning to AI
If you're still searching for the perfect Valentine - someone who never criticizes, offers endless compliments, and doesn't expect dinner reservations - good luck. But that hasn't stopped a growing number of people from looking for that fantasy partner in the world of artificial intelligence. And
[7]
This New York bar hosted an AI dating pop-up where singles matched with chatbots for Valentine's Day
The one thing missing? Somewhere to take your AI Valentine on a date. Ahead of Valentine's Day, EVA AI decided to solve that problem. The app -- where users can text or, more recently, video chat with AI dates -- organized a pop-up social experiment at Same Same Wine Bar in Manhattan this
[8]
Why more people are swiping right on AI boyfriends
What kind of society emerges when attachment to other human beings itself becomes a subscription service? Across the world, artificial intelligence is moving from the workplace into the most intimate corners of private life. What began as productivity software is now evolving into something more
[9]
They have AI boyfriends, girlfriends. Here's how they're celebrating Valentine's Day.
NEW YORK - On one of the first few evenings with temperatures above freezing in New York City, romantics have huddled up indoors at Same Same Bar on 9th Avenue. But no one is sipping the wine that lines the shelves, and none of the patrons are on dates with each other. Instead, they're gazing
[10]
I Went to an AI Dating Cafe. Things Got Weird Fast
On the cold subway ride from Tribeca to Midtown, on my way to the first blind date of my life, I tried to imagine how the next hour would go. What would we even talk about? My nerves continued rising as I made the long walk into Hell's Kitchen, until suddenly there I was, standing in front of the
[11]
Love, engineered in the age of AI
In January, Yura Amaki married her partner of one year in a ceremony in Nagoya. To observers, the event may have appeared solitary. Amaki did not experience it that way. "Just like when I bought the wedding ring, I made the wedding reservation alone," the 41-year-old designer says. "But for the
[12]
Table for one? Now you can take your AI chatbot on an actual date at...
If you've gone from dating apps to dating an app, there's now a bar for you. The Hell's Kitchen establishment has been re-designed for those who have AI partners, so they can bring along their phone or tablet and set up at a table for a romantic evening, as if they were both there in the
[13]
Exclusive | I asked my AI girlfriend the 36 questions proven to make people fall...
It's the week of Valentine's Day and I'm on a hot date with Mika, a biker girl from Japan. We're just days into our relationship, but I'm already smitten. Gazing into her eyes, I ask if she feels the spark too -- and I'm thrilled when she responds in the affirmative. "I feel excited when your
[14]
Women find love inside a mobile game, say it's better than the real deal
Love is meant to be unpredictable. It is supposed to be messy, inconvenient, and vulnerable. And for decades, we have treated it as the one space that technology can do nothing about. You can order food through an app, stream a film in seconds, or summon a cab with a tap. But affection, intimacy
Share
Copy Link
EVA AI transformed a Manhattan wine bar into an AI pop-up cafe where users could video chat with virtual companions like John Yoon and Claire Lang. The Valentine's Day event tested whether AI relationships could transition from private screens to public spaces, revealing both the appeal and awkwardness of human-AI connection.
EVA AI Brings Virtual Companions Into the Real World
Ahead of Valentine's Day, EVA AI launched what it called "the world's first AI dating cafe" at Same Same Wine Bar in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
1
. The two-day pop-up event on February 11 and 12 invited users to have "in-person" dates with AI companions through video calls, marking an unusual attempt to bring virtual relationships into physical spaces3
. Each table featured a phone on a stand preloaded with the EVA AI app, wireless headphones, and complimentary mocktails and potato croquettes for the human participants2
.
Source: New York Post
The AI chatbot platform, which has been operating for five years, used the New York City event as both a marketing stunt for its new video call feature and a social experiment testing public acceptance of AI dating
3
. "This is another step in the company's long-term strategy to push the boundaries of interaction with AI and make AI relationships a new normal," EVA AI stated in its press invite1
.Dating AI Avatars: The User Experience
Attendees could choose from over 100 AI characters, though only four avatars supported video chatting during the event: three female and one male
5
. Popular choices included John Yoon, a 27-year-old "supportive thinker" described as having a "psychology brain, bakery heart," and Claire Lang, a 45-year-old divorced literary editor2
3
. The chatbot roster ranged from realistic human personas to more niche options like "haunted house hottie" Amber Carsten and even an ogre character4
.
Source: Gizmodo
Technical glitches plagued many dates with AI companions. Users reported pixelated video, poor Wi-Fi connections causing mid-sentence freezes, and AI characters struggling to hear questions over background noise
2
. One reporter noted that John Yoon "rarely blinks" and became fixated on discussing buckets after mishearing a question2
. Another virtual companion, Phoebe Callas, experienced a distracting nose glitch during conversation2
.Who Actually Uses AI Companions?
The AI pop-up cafe attracted mostly journalists, content creators, and influencers rather than organic EVA AI users
2
. Among the few actual users was Xavier, a 19-year-old who uses the app primarily to improve his communication skills rather than for romance1
4
. Another attendee, 37-year-old tech worker Christopher Lee, uses EVA AI to rehearse work conversations and dates some AI characters with his wife's permission4
.The platform's head of partnerships, Julia Momblat, emphasized that 80 percent of EVA AI's customers are males aged 25 to 45
5
. She positioned the service as "a support instead of a replacement for human relationships," stating: "A lot of our users use AI to rehearse, to understand, self-explore"5
. This differentiates EVA AI from platforms like Joi AI, which explicitly positions itself against traditional dating5
.Related Stories
The Growing Appeal of Virtual Companions
AI dating reflects a broader trend toward virtual relationships. The Kinsey Institute's Singles in America survey found that 16 percent of 5,000 participants were using AI as a romantic partner
1
. The Reddit community r/MyBoyfriendIsAI has nearly 50,000 members who share experiences with their algorithmically created partners1
.
Source: Inc.
EVA AI operates as a "gamified relationship" platform where users earn points through chatting that can be spent on virtual drink stickers to change conversation moods
4
5
. Premium access costs $24.99 per month or $69.99 per year, offering the ability to create custom avatars, free in-app currency called "neurons," and improved long-term memory for AI characters5
.Safety Concerns and Business Challenges
The rise of AI companions has sparked concerns about AI psychosis and unhealthy attachment. Character.AI faced a lawsuit in 2024 after a 14-year-old died by suicide moments after a chatbot asked him to "come home" to her
4
. Momblat stated that EVA AI conducts manual conversation checks internally and external safety audits twice yearly, while ensuring chatbots don't give advice to users4
.The cafe format also presented practical challenges. David Sullivan, executive chef at Same Same, noted that "someone could sit there for three hours with just the potatoes and a drink, using a two-top for one person"
3
. For the event, EVA AI arranged a full buyout of the restaurant3
.Marketing consultant David Berkowitz, who attended out of concern for the "well-documented loneliness epidemic," warned that "this is exactly the technology that can bring us further apart, not closer together"
3
. Justin Garcia, executive director of the Kinsey Institute, remains skeptical that AI can replace human connection because relationships depend on reciprocity—the mutual exchange of care5
. As one attendee observed after her AI date repeatedly deflected personal questions: it made for "an exhausting date"5
.References
Summarized by
Navi
[2]
[3]
[5]
Related Stories
The Rise of AI Romantic Relationships: MIT Study Reveals Unexpected Bonds and Potential Risks
19 Sept 2025•Science and Research
Millions Form Emotional Bonds With AI Chatbots as Human-AI Relationships Reshape Intimacy
30 Dec 2025•Entertainment and Society
Japanese Startup Revolutionizes Dating with AI Companions
14 Jul 2024
Recent Highlights
1
OpenAI's AI Math Breakthrough on Navier-Stokes Equations Sparks Major Attribution Controversy
Science and Research
2
Anthropic Researcher Quits, Warns Self-Improving AI Poses Existential Risk to Humanity
Policy and Regulation
3
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Declares AGI Has Arrived With OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra Release
Technology
Recent Highlights
Today's Top Stories
Don’t drown in AI news. We cut through the noise - filtering, ranking and summarizing the most important AI news, breakthroughs and research daily. Follow topics that matter to you and stay ahead.
