The Rise of AI-Rranged Romance: How Fate and Similar Apps Are Reshaping Dating
As we enter what some are calling the age of the AI-rranged marriage, new platforms like Fate are transforming how people find love. Fate bills itself as the first "agentic AI dating app," where an artificial intelligence personality interviews users, analyzes their data, and suggests five potential matches based on language patterns and preferences—no swiping required.
From Human Desire to Corporate Control
Van Badham, a Guardian Australia columnist, argues that what consumers actually wanted from AI in dating has been overshadowed by corporate interests. "What people wanted from AI in dating apps has been superseded by what some data-hungry, rich-dork megacorp thinks that they should need," she writes. Studies in Europe indicate users primarily sought AI tools to identify fake profiles and flag toxic behavior, not to automate the entire matchmaking process.
This trend mirrors broader societal shifts where AI is being forced into various aspects of daily life, from writing and academia to romance, often with unintended consequences. The result is a growing concern that we are outsourcing the messy, wonderful human weirdness that makes relationships meaningful.
The Privacy Paradox and Digital Narcissism
With weaker privacy laws in places like Australia, users become unwitting participants in a real-time AI experiment. The problem extends beyond data collection to how AI shapes self-perception. Previously, the risk was falling in love with a mirror-machine—a digital fantasy that flatters vanities without fostering growth. Now, apps like Fate, Sitch, and Keeper push this further by automating connections entirely.
This shift occurs against a backdrop of changing social media behaviors. Where once oversharing was rampant, many now retreat into undersharing due to fears of weaponized personal data. "As every stray, 10-year-old tweet can be weaponised, so it seems many are retracting to a new paranoia when it comes to self-revelation," Badham notes.
Historical Warnings and Modern Realities
Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan predicted these unnatural intimacies decades ago, warning that interactive media would lease "our eyes and ears and nerves." His ideas inspired body-horror themes in works like David Cronenberg's Videodrome, which feel increasingly relevant today.
Recent research adds urgency to these concerns. A study by Italian researchers suggests that prolonged engagement with platforms like X can lead to ideological brainwashing, while legal cases in Los Angeles argue social media is a "defective product" exploiting young people's brains. This has prompted social media bans for children in countries like Australia and Malaysia.
Regulatory Gaps and Future Implications
The question remains: will governments act before AI-rranged marriages become commonplace? Without stronger regulations, the techlords may indeed win, reducing profound human emotions to automated transactions. As Badham concludes, "When the most profound and transformative of human emotions is an automated transaction in an online shop, the techlords have won."
From AI coaching on date approaches to dataset-driven matchmaking, the future of romance hangs in the balance. Whether through love of robots or robots orchestrating love, humanity faces a critical choice—embrace the digital deadening or fight to reclaim the human connection that makes us truly alive.
