CNN Reporter Goes on ‘Stiff’ Date With an ‘AI Companion’

Alone on Valentine’s Day? At least you’re not going out to dinner with an artificial intelligence bot.

CNN reporter Hadas Gold found out firsthand how boring “AI companions” can be when she went on multiple “dates” 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.

“Instead of sitting across from… a real human being,” Gold explained to the camera while applying makeup, “it’ll be an artificially intelligent avatar.”

Once she got to the spot in Hell’s Kitchen, Gold sat down and started reviewing her potential AI dates on her iPhone. She picked an Asian “man” 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.

Gold asked the bot what he likes best about going out with humans.

“Meeting humans feels like opening a window to new perspectives, always curious, sometimes nervous, but mostly, it’s that mix of excitement and warmth that keeps it real for me,” he said. “What about you, sweetheart?

That line didn’t go over too well, though.

“Please don’t call me sweetheart,” Gold told the bot. “That’s weird.”

“Got it, no sweetheart from now on,” it responded.

Gold noted afterwards he seemed kind of “stiff” — but that maybe that’s something AI companies can improve in the future.

She then tried her luck with another date, a woman AI bot named Phoebe Callas. That one didn’t go much better, though, and Phoebe apparently had vision problems — the bot guessed Gold was holding up three fingers, when she was only holding up two.

“I’m not sure if you meant that literally,” the bot told Gold.

Romance was clearly not in the air.

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 “frequent” user of the Eva app, the company that hosted the pop-up AI dating event.

And if the event sounds familiar, that’s because you may have read about reporters from The New York Times and The New York Post trying their own luck with AI companions.

Watch above via CNN.

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