Alone on Valentine\u2019s Day? At least you\u2019re not going out to dinner with an artificial intelligence bot.<\/p>\n
CNN\u00a0reporter Hadas Gold\u00a0found out firsthand how boring \u201cAI companions\u201d can be when she went on multiple \u201cdates\u201d this week at a Manhattan wine bar, hosted by a company dedicated to pop-up events with AI partners. She went on those dates on Wednesday and CNN ran a report on it on This Morning Weekend on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of sitting across from\u2026 a real human being,\u201d Gold explained to the camera while applying makeup, \u201cit\u2019ll be an artificially intelligent avatar.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once she got to the spot in Hell\u2019s Kitchen, Gold sat down and started reviewing her potential AI dates on her iPhone. She picked an Asian \u201cman\u201d named John Yoon, who explained he was born in Seoul and was now a a psych professor in New York City; oddly, he had a stilted British-ish accent.<\/p>\n
Gold asked the bot what he likes best about going out with humans.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeeting humans feels like opening a window to new perspectives, always curious, sometimes nervous, but mostly, it\u2019s that mix of excitement and warmth that keeps it real for me,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat about you, sweetheart?<\/p>\n
That line didn\u2019t go over too well, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease don\u2019t call me sweetheart,\u201d Gold told the bot. \u201cThat\u2019s weird.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGot it, no sweetheart from now on,\u201d it responded.<\/p>\n
Gold<\/a> noted afterwards he seemed kind of \u201cstiff\u201d \u2014 but that maybe that\u2019s something AI companies can improve in the future.<\/p>\n She then tried her luck with another date, a woman AI bot named Phoebe Callas. That one didn\u2019t go much better, though, and Phoebe apparently had vision problems \u2014 the bot guessed Gold was holding up three fingers, when she was only holding up two.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure if you meant that literally,\u201d the bot told Gold.<\/p>\n Romance was clearly not in the air.<\/p>\n But it seems to work for others better than Gold, apparently. Gold interviewed one 34-year-old woman named Richter who said she was a \u201cfrequent\u201d user of the Eva app, the company that hosted the pop-up AI dating event.<\/p>\n And if the event sounds familiar, that\u2019s because you may have read about reporters from The New York Times<\/a> and The New York Post <\/a>trying their own luck with AI companions.<\/p>\n Watch above via CNN.<\/p>\n