Marissa, a 31-year-old Boston resident, downloaded dating apps because she is looking for love.
asserted
she → download → love
But more and more, she finds herself looking for something else: AI-free photos.
asserted
herself → find → something
The marketing professional said she routinely comes across dating app profiles that appear to be digitally altered.
asserted
that → say → profiles
Usually, the changes are minor and can be easily made using tools like Photoshop, such as editing someone out of a photo.
asserted
changes → make → photo
Sometimes, however, the photo appears to be completely AI-generated, she told CBS News, citing a photo she came across on Bumble of a man dressed in a suit tiling a bathroom wall.
asserted
she → appear → wall
"AI aside, I'm not sure what the appeal is there," she said (Marissa asked to withhold her surname for privacy reasons).
asserted
Marissa → say → reasons
Numerous women on TikTok also report spotting photos of men on dating apps that appear to be AI-generated.
asserted
that → report → apps
Their accounts demonstrate how AI is blurring the line between what's real and what's fake in the already fraught arena of online dating.
asserted
what → demonstrate → dating
They also raise ethical questions about how far is too far when it comes to manipulating your online persona.
asserted
it → raise → persona
"People want authentic connections and conversations," Kathryn Coduto, an assistant professor at Boston University who studies dating apps, told CBS News in an email.
asserted
who → want → email
"I think AI has made people more wary and skeptical of others, especially people they don't know."
asserted
they → think → others
Of course, dating app users have long relied on filters and other editing tools to polish their photos.
asserted
users → rely → photos
But AI tools are upping the ante, allowing people to create high-quality images within seconds, and in some cases, fabricate fake scenes.
asserted
people → up → scenes
"A dater has to think about how they're going to capture someone's attention in a few seconds or less," Coduto told CBS News.
asserted
Coduto → have → News
"This might mean making your photo look a little better than it might have before.
uncertain
it → mean → ?
However, they appear more likely to use AI to spruce up their dating profiles than women, Coduto added.
asserted
Coduto → appear → women
"So far, men are more interested in AI in the dating space, which isn't surprising," Coduto said.
asserted
Coduto → say → space
"Women tend to receive more matches and messages, so men have a harder time standing out.
asserted
men → tend → time
"
The "digital stylist" who helps men AI their photos
AI can create obvious distortions when it generates photos, such as omitting a finger from someone's hand.
asserted
it → help → hand
For Marissa, a telltale sign is the person's face, which sometimes looks "waxy" in AI-generated photos, she said.
asserted
she → look → photos
Still, as technology improves, it's becoming harder to distinguish a real photo from one created by AI models.
asserted
it → improve → models
Lana Li, a Brooklyn, New York, dating consultant who runs the Substack "Love Me Like a Robot," calls herself a "digital stylist."
asserted
who → run → herself
She uses AI to help men level up their dating app photos, and she defends using the technology as long as the photos still genuinely represent who they are.
asserted
they → use → technology
"I can take a picture of somebody and then put them in a different outfit or change their hairstyle a little bit, or put different shoes on them," she told CBS News.
asserted
she → take → News
"Or if I think their body language doesn't look confident in the picture, I will have [AI] change that."
asserted
AI → think → that
The 37-year-old also uses FaceApp to change men's facial expressions.
asserted
old → use → expressions
She said the edits are subtle, such as slightly lifting the corner of someone's mouth to make them look "friendlier."
asserted
them → say → mouth
Despite her liberal approach to using AI, there are lines Li is unwilling to cross.
asserted
Li → use → AI
For example, one client asked her to digitally alter a photo so that his head was on a marathon runner's body — a request she declined.
asserted
she → ask → body
"I told him, 'I can't work with you if you want to not represent yourself accurately,'" she said.
asserted
she → tell → yourself
Two of Li's male clients told CBS News they've used AI in their online dating photos, but in ways they feel stop short of being misleading and remain true to who they are (to maintain their privacy, the men spoke to CBS News on the condition of anonymity).
asserted
men → tell → anonymity
A ban on Hinge
One man, a 30-year-old tech employee who lives in New York City, said Li used ChatGPT to digitally clothe him in more professional garb and to tame his frizzy hair.
asserted
Li → live → hair
"It's very subtle," the man said, saying he still looked like himself, even with the edits.
asserted
he → say → edits
He emphasized that he doesn't want to "catfish" anyone — a concern for singles even in the absence of AI.
asserted
he → emphasize → AI
Another of Li's clients is pulling back after one of his AI photos backfired.
asserted
one → pull → photos
The 50-something-year-old New York City resident said he fed photos of himself into Aragon.ai, an AI headshot generator, which produced a picture of him standing on a Manhattan roof with a sunset in the background.
asserted
which → say → background
It immediately drew hits on his Hinge profile.
asserted
It → draw → profile
"This picture generally got the most likes," he told CBS News.
asserted
he → get → News
"Now that could just be because it was the first thing they saw.
uncertain
they → see → ?
But regardless, it was proving to be effective, and women seemed to like it.
asserted
women → prove → it
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
