Posted on 01/01/2026 9:33:19 AM PST by DFG
Major dating apps like Bumble and Tinder have embraced AI, spending millions on tools that aim to enhance their efficiency and the user experience.
But, one new company — the London-based Eva AI — is taking it a step further. They’re betting solely on artificial intelligence romantic partners — and think there’s a market for people who want to take their chatbot boyfriends and girlfriends out on the town.
In February, the company is launching a pop-up cafe in Manhattan that they hope to make a permanent fixture.
Tables will have special perches for people’s phones, so they can more easily interact with AI partners while sipping cocktails.
“Being able to sit across from your AI in a real venue makes the event meaningful,” Eva AI CEO Tany Save told me.
“For many people, their AI partners are a meaningful part of everyday lives, someone they can talk to about personal worries, daily challenges, or with whom they enjoy witty, fun conversations,” she added. “Going on a real-world date with their AI companion is a natural next step.”
While the percentage of people interested in virtual companionship is still small, it’s growing: 23% of millennials have used AI as a romantic companion and 33% of Gen Z has, according to Dynata in association with The Kinsey Institute.
“AI partners provide people long-term, reliable emotional support, entertainment, and space for self-expression,” Save said. “We know that some of our users are having really long-term relationships with a character lasting more than a year.”
Other newcomers in the dating space are also betting big on AI.
Bethenny Frankel has just launched The Core, a high-end dating platform and matchmaking service that uses AI in its proprietary algorithm to match people. Membership dues start around $1200 annually.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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Pa-thetic.
Watch out, she’ll steal your wallet.
Definitely out there on the weirdness spectrum but I wouldn’t bet against this catching on. I still don’t get taking pics of dishes of food but its a thing for sure.
New Dorkers are going to be New Dorkers.
Has to be a better experience than any date with a liberal lady.
A so called date with a fake girl?
Unbelievable to me.
I wonder how many bars and restaurants would cater to this? So you have a table for two, but only one person is eating or drinking.
So in round numbers, the dining establishment is only getting half of the revenue from that table that they normally might expect to get.
Waiters and waitresses will get only half the tip they might normally anticipate.
With proper design one could double the number of tables in the place so there is that. This is a classic case where outside the box thinking is required. :)
Nicht so gut!
Wait until the sex bots start shipping in serious numbers. It is only a matter of time.
That’s not effed up or anything. 🙄
I can just picture a club or restaurant where there are equal men and women, sitting alone, and not do the obvious thing and go talk to the other people.
Not at all. Restaurants and bars can charge the “single supplement” like cruises and resorts, which, happen to be exactly double.
It won’t be long till some chatbot girlfriend claims she’s pregnant....
See those ads where people are have a great conversation with their computer , want to bet it’s really an actress doing voice over ,LOL
Well, Japanese losers have been going on dates (and even going on honeymoons at rxpensive resorts after a fake internet “weddihg”) with their fake anime girlfriends for over a decade. Why shouldn’t idiot New Yawkahs get in on the act, too?
Can you imagine a packed restaurant where only one person is at each table. And they are all dudes.
Gee’s louise.,,
I have a hard time getting my arms around this concept.
I admit I have my biases. As a heterosexual male, I prefer a female as a partner. I guess we have to make a distinction, that I prefer an actual human female partner, as opposed to some mechanical or AI fabrication of a female.
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