Carly Quellman is a movement artist, storyteller and disability advocate whose work challenges and strips perspective around the human experience. As an advocate for young women, artistic potential and the "anomaly" identity, Carly dedicates her time to spreading the power of expression. She resides in Los Angeles.
I've never tried a matchmaking service, nor used a psychic to see into my romantic future. Still, I was intrigued -- though not surprised -- to learn that artificial intelligence has expanded into the world of relationships.
I can't say I've had the best experience with online dating and its detailed approach that, apparently, helps align folks as a potential good fit. Though I've certainly been influenced by dating apps' taglines and promises, I've yet to find the chemistry, connection and commitment I seek.
But when I stumbled on Keeper I was curious. Mostly because it isn't a dating app; instead, it's a matchmaking tool that could do away with endlessly swiping into monotonous frustration. The Keeper platform and product use a proprietary algorithm and a combination of custom AI models and third-party models, including OpenAI's GPT API, to match people up in real time.
Keeper AI's tagline is: "Love at first match. Driven by AI and relationship science. Guided by human care." And its mission is -- through services including an AI-powered dating coach -- to "end human loneliness by giving everyone the opportunity to start a happy, healthy family."
With the assumption that "family" isn't generalizing its target demographic as child-seeking humans, I decided to navigate the site, curious to discover what finding my future partner might entail. What better way to spend my time than to have AI decipher my romantic hopes, dreams and desires?
Before navigating through the rest of Keeper AI's site and its psychometric questionnaire, I'd recommend checking out its standard calculator and matchmaker comparison.
There, you'll find some interesting data about the probability of finding your ideal match in the United States, as well as info on how Keeper compares to its competitors in the matchmaking space.
Once you get started with Keeper, you're presented with a ChatGPT-like text box meant to help the tool understand what you're looking for in a relationship. Then you're directed to begin the AI Dating Coach's psychometric questionnaire. Be prepared to dedicate enough time to fill out all 26 of its categorized questions. (Keeper AI's website notes that most people won't fill out a questionnaire about their deepest, personal information and preferences unless they're looking for something serious.)
As part of the questionnaire, Keeper will ask you to reveal your turn-ons and turn-offs, along with your preferences regarding personality, location and age. The questionnaire also includes space to share results from completed cognitive tests and even your SAT scores.
After you've completed the psychometric questionnaire, including adding your phone number for updates on any matches, you're directed to a page with the next steps.
This includes an AI analysis, AI-distributed vetting, shared dating choices, match feedback and the ability to restart the process.
Then all that's left to do is wait to be matched.
Though you can absolutely navigate the site without having to pay, the perks of its Standard (free) Membership seem a bit underwhelming -- but this may be purposeful.
It's fair to say your income dictates your perspective on the world, and how you move through it. Pricing for Pay for the First Date and Marriage Bounty, Keeper's paid memberships, is calculated during a call with someone from Keeper's team. (The company shared that each membership costs between thousands and tens of thousands of dollars.)
Beyond cost, the other significant difference between memberships is the matching process. If you're a paying member, Keeper says, it sifts through the database to match you with someone. If you're on a free plan, you're considered for matches with paying members. Essentially, if you don't pay for a subscription, you have to wait for a paid member to match with you first.
Additionally, while Keeper may speak of "everyone," its brand positioning is targeted toward a specific audience. It isn't inclusive when it comes to queer folks or people who identify beyond the labels "man" or "woman," and the photography it uses features people reminiscent of those I found myself virtually face-to-face with on the dating app The League.
I noticed these aspects of the platform immediately, but they might not affect you, or they might encourage you to use Keeper's services. In response to my point about Keeper's perceived target demographic, the company said that though its artificial intelligence currently focuses on matching opposite-sex couples -- "due to distinct algorithms and logic required to necessitate the development of separate AI models" -- it plans to launch updates to increase inclusivity, by the second half of 2025.
Since Keeper advertises as using an AI Dating Coach, I assumed, and would prefer, that the paid memberships include interactions with a human dating coach who simply uses Keeper's AI-powered data to help its members prepare for, navigate, or streamline their dating experience.
Instead, Keeper's home page features a ChatGPT-esque screen in a Q&A format to respond to any questions or comments about your current dating life. Those AI-powered conversations are then shared with Keeper's dating and relationship coach. But whether the coach is the same person as the matchmaker, and whether your personal ChatGPT conversations are freely floating around Keeper's office are questions that remain unanswered.
It's something to be very aware of when you're using any kind of AI chatbot: Think about whether the potential outcome is really worth it to you to enter your personal information and risk a data breach.
Questions aside, I'm a fierce advocate for trying anything once and learning from experience. Since you can do both on Keeper, I'd recommend trying it for yourself -- but with no expectations. On its pricing page, Keeper notes that "1 in 10 Keeper dates are still together." You can test the probability of that statistic, but it'll cost you time and/or money. You can only get one of those back.
For more on AI in dating, check out CNET's guides on how to boost your dating app profile with a little guidance from ChatGPT, and how to get dating advice from artificial intelligence.
