Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD
Get unlimited access to 10,000+ magazines, newspapers and Premium stories for just
Try GOLD - Free
Reallife calling: don't let AI suck the love out of online dating
The London Standard
|February 13, 2025
In Spike Jonze's 2013 film, Her, Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with the AI chatbot inside his phone.
-
The situation is meant to be very futuristic, with Phoenix's character Theodore working a non-existent job and traversing a city that looks like a Shanghai-Los Angeles hybrid. He even uses a teeny-tiny pocketbook device as an all-inone phone, games console and cloud-based voice service.
I don't think, however, that Jonze realised just how near that future would be. Just 12 years on from Her's release and AI and dating have become natural bedfellows. They're tucked in, comfortable, and leaving crumbs in the sheets.
AI has been part of online dating for longer than you've probably even realised. Those Hinge profiles that are algorithmically registered as being so popular you're only able to send them.
a "rose" instead of your usual "like"? That's an Al-informed selection to provide you with the most "relevant" profiles. "As our app learns more about you, it will continually adjust the predictions," Hinge explains via its AI principles web page. But as AI and dating get increasingly cosy, they're also making things more obvious.
This story is from the February 13, 2025 edition of The London Standard.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM The London Standard
The London Standard
MP Jeremy Corbyn dines at Mestizo, picks up books at Foyles and loves a trip to Park Theatre
I lived in a bedsit owned by a lovely Italian man who made wine in the basement, which he pressed from grapes he brought back in his Fiat
2 mins
November 20, 2025
The London Standard
One to Watch
LOUD, ANNOYING, HILARIOUS- THE ISLE OF WIGHT'S HOT NEW PUNK DUO THE PILL ARE THE MEDICINE WE NEED
2 mins
November 20, 2025
The London Standard
Turn up the volume with this brand new hair tweakment service
John Frieda Salon is on a mission to help revive and restore thinning locks
2 mins
November 20, 2025
The London Standard
Can Arsenal cope without the league’s most influential player?
Their defensive colossus is the one player they don’t want to be missing in title chase.
3 mins
November 20, 2025
The London Standard
At the table: The perfect antidote to imperfect times
Perfection is blander than personality.
3 mins
November 20, 2025
The London Standard
MI5 sends fresh warning over Chinese espionage
WHAT THEY SAY \"The warning was meant for British parliamentarians, of course, but MI5 and the government are also trying to send a signal to China,\" writes Dominic Waghorn.
2 mins
November 20, 2025
The London Standard
Review: Need a sound night's sleep? These earbuds can even cancel your neighbours
I am incredibly noise-sensitive. I have the disposition of an irritable bat, which is only exacerbated in a sleep setting. And I have neighbours whose noise is constant: coughing, kids screaming, shouting.
1 min
November 20, 2025
The London Standard
CHEAT THE INTERNET
THE STORIES LIGHTING UP SOCIAL MEDIA THIS WEEK
2 mins
November 20, 2025
The London Standard
Shabana Mahmood faces revolt over her asylum changes
DAILY MAIL “For the millions in this country who want an end to unchecked illegal migration, Shabana Mahmood’s proposals for a Danish-style asylum system are a decent start. There are simple, commonsense tweaks to rules widely regarded as far too generous. A key sticking point will be Mahmood’s struggle to sell the proposals to her own backbenchers.
3 mins
November 20, 2025
The London Standard
Is London's Billionaires' Row really back in business?
The once ghost town of the uber-rich is now attracting the likes of Ariana Grande.
6 mins
November 20, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size