![\"Erica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/sut-l-known-003.jpg\")
The AI dating app called Known is coming on the scene as young adults are increasingly struggling with how to date and the social interaction required to meet potential partners. \u00a0(Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nWhen she\u2019s bored, Maeve O\u2019Connor will scroll through Bumble or Hinge, sometimes with the intention of going on a date. Sometimes, just window shopping. But because \u201cnobody actually likes Hinge,\u201d she decided to try something different.<\/p>\n
On an August afternoon, O\u2019Connor downloaded a new dating app called Known, which launched in San Diego this summer. When she opened it, her phone rang. \u201cI\u2019m not a real person, so just be honest,\u201d a voice said on the other side of the line.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor, 26, squirmed in her seat. Instead of filling out a profile, users are interviewed by an AI matchmaker. The idea is to skip the paralyzing carousel of swiping and let an algorithm choose your perfect partner.<\/p>\n
Known is coming on the scene as young adults are increasingly struggling with how to date and the social interaction required to meet potential partners. Among the half dozen users interviewed by the San Diego Union-Tribune, some have expressed unease about the dystopian premise of looking for love though an AI chatbot. Others have been remarkably candid with the platform, handing over intimate details about their desires in the hope that an algorithm can identify the person they are most compatible with.<\/p>\n
But whatever they think of the technology itself, they are all confronting the same question: Does Known actually work?<\/p>\n
During a 30-minute interview, the chatbot asked O\u2019Connor about her vacation plans this summer and what she liked (and didn\u2019t) about her ex. Some users will discuss their relationship to God. Others will share in depth details about their kinks.<\/p>\n
The chatbot is analyzing more than just answers, it also takes note of your hesitation, inflection and laughter to really gauge who you are.<\/p>\n
At the end of the call, Known claims to know you better than you may know yourself \u2014 thus the name.<\/p>\n
Since launching in July, thousands of\u00a0San Diegans have signed up for the app.<\/p>\n
The AI dating app called Known is coming on the scene as young adults are increasingly struggling with how to date and the social interaction required to meet potential partners. \u00a0(Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Erica Solberg has been using an AI dating app called Known that launched in San Diego this summer. The AI matchmaker interviews singles to find their \u201cperfect pair,\u201d then they pay the $15 fee to meet them.<\/p>\n
Celeste Amadon is Known\u2019s 22-year-old co-founder and CEO. She was raised in Seattle\u2019s tech scene by two parents who work in venture capital, watching them raise hundreds of millions of dollars for companies chasing modern-day problems.<\/p>\n
So as she saw AI investment surge, Amadon decided to tackle the biggest problem her friends were facing: finding love.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of my friends are on dating apps,\u201d she said, \u201cbut very few of them are actually going on dates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amadon blames the perverse incentives of traditional dating apps, which she says profit when people stay single.<\/p>\n
\u201cDating apps stopped being about meeting people and started being about optimizing yourself for the market,\u201d Amadon says, pointing to the ironic economics of Hinge\u2019s \u201crose jail\u201d \u2014 a phenomenon where some of your best matches are kept behind a paywall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m declaring a dating state of emergency in San Diego,\u201d Amadon said at the app\u2019s launch party in August. She handed out flyers that diagnosed San Diego men with Peter Pan syndrome \u2014 the phenomenon where men never grow up or settle down \u2014 and the paradox of choice caused by dating apps.<\/p>\n
During Known\u2019s debut at Foxhill Manor, singles dressed for the Hamptons-white theme took photos next to a poster that read \u201cSan Diego is full of hot people doing nothing about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And to the poster\u2019s point, there were a lot more selfies taken at the singles party than phone numbers swapped. \u201cIt\u2019s ingrained for men not to approach women anymore,\u201d said Dalton Boll, a San Diego DJ who attended the party.<\/p>\n
The launch party felt like \u201ca junior high dance,\u201d said Wes Evans, a 26-year-old photographer, describing how many of his friends were \u201ctoo petrified\u201d to approach the women at the party.<\/p>\n
The advent of Known was in part inspired by this \u201cgeneration of young men who have never approached women in real life, but feel really rejected by women because the (traditional) apps were designed not to work,\u201d Amadon said.<\/p>\n
In the decade since Tinder and Hinge came to the app store, an arms race has emerged around perfecting profiles: One app ranks your most attractive photos, another uses AI to generate more flattering ones, and a third, aptly named RizzGPT, will write your opening messages for you \u2014 assuming, of course, someone finds you attractive enough to open them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a substantial group of young adults who are single and not even really trying to date. They\u2019re burnt out on the apps,\u201d said Amanda Gesselman, a social-developmental psychologist at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, who has spent a career studying this exact phenomenon. \u201cYou\u2019re constantly swiping, trying to start conversations, watching them fizzle out, and then going right back to swiping again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Known\u2019s answer is to skip the profile altogether \u2014 the app\u2019s tagline is \u201cswipeless dating.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you have time to chat right now?\u201d the bot asked O\u2019Connor. \u201cLet\u2019s start with a few simple things first.\u201d The bot started with the basics: her job, her hobbies.<\/p>\n
Eventually they were talking about how she\u2019s not religious but maybe a little \u201cwoo-woo\u201d spiritual \u2014 and while she probably wouldn\u2019t align with a Republican, she\u2019d be interested in dating a guy who looks like the skinny, tattooed lead singer of the musical act Role Model, Tucker Harrington Pillsbury.<\/p>\n
After 30 minutes, the bot summarized her life in a few sentences: \u201cYou come across as the kind of person who actually shows up, someone whose Saturdays are made for surfing and slow coffee.\u201d The bot went on, sycophantically summarizing San Diego stereotypes \u2014 optimistic, loves sunshine, likes to go on walks.<\/p>\n
The bot said her match would be someone who is \u201cempathetic and listens.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you serious?\u201d laughed Lucy Baker, O\u2019Connor\u2019s friend who overheard the phone call with the matchmaker. She rolled her eyes. \u201cDoesn\u2019t everyone want someone who listens?\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor hung up the phone, uploaded six photos of herself and waited \u2014 or actually, worried.<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t feel like Known really knew her by the end of the call \u2014 she wanted to call back and explain what she meant \u2014 but it was too late.<\/p>\n
The AI transcript was being summarized and sent to the algorithm to, in theory, filter for a man in San Diego who surfs, walks and listens.<\/p>\n
Amadon pushed back and said the agent was better equipped to gauge the \u201cje ne sais quoi\u201d of a person through the voice interview than a typical dating profile would.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen writing stuff down, you naturally filter yourself,\u201d Amadon said. \u201cA phone call is more authentic.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the Known launch party, a few men shared how they told their AI matchmaker what bra size they imagine their future girlfriends would have.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people are overly transparent with these chatbots,\u201d Amadon said. \u201cYou find out a good deal about the people talking in 25 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though O\u2019Connor\u2019s initial interview was in July, she has yet to be matched by the app. Amadon said that\u2019s by design; Known is not going to set you up with someone you\u2019re not\u00a0compatible with.<\/p>\n
But the U-T spoke to a San Diego single who had been matched.<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago, Erica Solberg, a 32-year-old marketing executive in San Diego, remembered waking up one morning to a notification from Known.<\/p>\n
The app showed her a 40-year-old man who worked in real estate. Scrolling through his profile, she saw a man who frequently travels to luxurious destinations. She imagined a world where they went to baseball games on weeknights and spent Sundays at car shows.<\/p>\n
To her friends, Solberg called him \u201cGaslamp Guy.\u201d San Diego natives know the type: the West Coast finance bro\u2014loafers, unbuttoned button-ups, Ray-Bans, and a Padres hat. If she decided to go on the date, it would cost both singles $15 \u2014 \u201cthe cost of a cocktail,\u201d Amadon said.<\/p>\n
From there, Known took over the logistics. It coordinated a time for the date, chose the restaurant and made the reservation. The two people wouldn\u2019t be able to message each other until the morning of the date.<\/p>\n
On the day of her date, Solberg watched from across the street as \u201cGaslamp Guy\u201d pulled up to the Little Italy restaurant in a 1994 Porsche.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d probably have swiped left on him on Hinge,\u201d she said, \u201cbut we actually had a lot in common.\u201d<\/p>\n
On paper, Gaslamp Guy matched a lot of her criteria. \u201cThe conversation was good, I really liked the restaurant, but nothing really happened after, so I probably won\u2019t follow up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
There was also the fact that he still lived with his ex.<\/p>\n
All of this, she then shared with her AI matchmaker after the date. These post-dinner debriefs are a clever way to gather more data: The AI matchmaker uses what you say about your date \u2014 and what your date says about you \u2014 to refine your profiles for the next match.<\/p>\n
Her next match, \u201cMr. Mountaineer,\u201d turned out to be very different from her first date.<\/p>\n
Last Wednesday, she arrived at Part Time Lover, a Hillcrest spot with a reputation to match its name, and found a 6-foot, brown-eyed man waiting for her. \u201cHe had this quiet confidence,\u201d she said, blushing.<\/p>\n
The conversation ran four hours \u2014 7 to 11 p.m. \u2014 ranging from favorite restaurants to a recent rock-climbing trip that had ended, memorably, with him falling 30 feet down a cliff face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018You\u2019re not convincing me to pick up this hobby at all,\u2019\u201d she said, laughing. But he did persuade her to go on a second date.<\/p>\n
Solberg told the AI matchmaker about the successful first date that led to a second. She also had a post-date debrief with a single friend and after telling her about Mr. Mountaineer, \u201cshe\u2019s signing up, too,\u201d Solberg said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When she\u2019s bored, Maeve O\u2019Connor will scroll through Bumble or Hinge, sometimes with the intention of going on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[387,181,74,76,75,1970,1696],"class_list":["post-465947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-business","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-technology","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}