Carly Quellman, aka Carly Que, is a multimedia strategist and storyteller at the intersection of technology and the humanities, investigating how perspective can enhance, rather than overstimulate, the world. She can be found online and near the closest south-facing window in Los Angeles.
After spending much of my day dealing with technology, I'm not so inclined to then do my socializing via technology as well. But I can't say no to artificial intelligence that's been created specifically to enhance in-person interaction.
For instance, I had a lot of fun working with an AI humanoid to test out flirting through conversation, so I couldn't help but be curious about Tinder's newest AI-powered dating feature.
While Tinder launched way back in 2012, The Game was only just introduced on April 1. (I'm sure partly due to the wave of comically inclined, though fake, April Fools' Day marketing campaigns.) But this one wasn't a joke: The Game was created in partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI as part of a limited-time offering of speech-to-speech AI technology.
The Game aims to generate incredibly cheesy, over-the-top voices and scenarios to help test your "game" in a seemingly conversational, lighthearted manner. If you're looking for help with emotional processing, this probably isn't the experience for you.
After re-creating a Tinder profile, I chucked some AI-enhanced photos into the app and initiated The Game.
Why was I nervous? It's likely because conversations involving compliments instead of intellectual banter feel like a prickly growth edge. Can't we just skip the small talk? (Apparently not.)
I appreciate that Tinder integrated The Game into all subscription models, making it accessible for all of its customers. Playing The Game is pretty straightforward:
I'm aware that The Game isn't a unique tool within AI's field but a unique tool within the dating app market. For someone who likes to bundle as many activities into a platform at once, I can see the benefit of using it to practice conversations and flirting without needing another platform.
However, I found gaps within the content itself. I enjoyed speaking to a generated human who I could see and build rapport with versus quick scenarios that left me hanging -- like when my French AI persona spent most of the date exchanging goodbyes because there wasn't enough data programmed into his character to generate further conversation.
Hopefully, The Game will start adding more responses once more people interact with it, providing feedback that the data scientists and machine learning engineers can use to further train the AI model. (Though it's only available for a limited time, I'm unsure if that will happen.)
My multiple rounds spent playing The Game garnered a few laughs, and there was satisfaction from successfully securing a date within each scenario. Still, I didn't necessarily feel more prepared for dating in real life. I believe the sentiment is nice, but when partnered with OpenAI, I have to question its intentionality and value versus user reaction.
I very well may just not be its target audience. And that's OK -- but I still have opinions. After navigating The Game for a couple of days, this is where I stand:
Tinder's The Game is light-hearted, low-stakes, and novel -- but it's not created to be anything more than that.
