Is using artificial intelligence to chat on dating apps cheating? 

On this week’s 'So You Think You’re an Adult' with Moncrieff, one listener asked if she should tell her boyfriend she used AI to talk to him on a dating app.  

“I was so frustrated with the apps that I heard about an extension that you can place on the app, and it will do the initial chat for you,” she said.  

“However, the chat bot was able to “learn” a lot about me and was able to carry a more in-depth conversation than I could imagine.” 

She began talking to him herself after a few days – but he later told her that he “knew from [their] very first conversations” that she was the one for him.  

She asked if she should tell her boyfriend that he wasn’t talking to a real person in those first few days.  

“The right information” 

Author Barbara Scully said she understands why the listener used AI on dating apps for “preliminary questions”.  

“I think that sounds remarkably intelligent,” she said.  

Barbara said the listener doesn’t need to tell her boyfriend if all the information in the AI-generated conversations was true.  

“It's not like the chatbot told him a whole load of stuff that isn’t true,” she said. “The AI was giving answers based on what she fed it.” 

“It's kind of like using a Dictaphone instead of doing the typing yourself.” 

“Just a tool” 

Broadcaster and drag queen Declan Buckley that while AI is advancing its capabilities more – but it’s still “just a tool”.  

He said the listener isn’t pretending “to be something she’s not”, but just presenting a better version of herself. 

He compared it to wearing make up on a date: “Make up is a technology that people use to ameliorate their actions in their real world.” 

Declan said if the AI came up with lies, she would “obviously need her comeuppance”.  

“But I don’t think there’s anything to answer for,” she said.  

You can hear more adult advice every Thursday from 3pm on Newstalk.

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