26% of US singles now use AI to write dating app messages

“Chatfishing”—using AI to craft dating app conversations—has emerged as a widespread practice, with 26 percent of U.S. singles now using artificial intelligence to enhance their dating interactions, representing a 333 percent jump from the previous year. This digital deception trend raises fundamental questions about authentic human connection as AI becomes sophisticated enough to fool potential romantic partners more than 70 percent of the time.

What you should know: AI-powered dating assistance has evolved from simple conversation suggestions to comprehensive communication tools that can handle entire exchanges.

• Popular “wingman apps” like Rizz, Winggg, and YourMove AI generate responses to uploaded screenshots of dating conversations, with YourMove AI marketing itself as putting “your texting on cruise control.”
• Major platforms are integrating AI coaching features—Hinge uses AI to improve user responses to prompts, while Facebook Dating is testing a “dating assistant” for brainstorming date ideas.
• The now-shuttered Volar app even allowed users to train AI versions of themselves that would flirt with other AI avatars as pre-date screening.

The numbers tell the story: Recent research reveals the extent of AI infiltration in digital dating.

• A 2025 study from Norton, a cybersecurity company, found that six in 10 dating app users believe they’ve encountered at least one AI-written conversation.
• Time reported that the Rizz app attracted roughly 1.5 million monthly active users last year.
• Research shows humans struggle to distinguish AI-generated text, with people correctly identifying machine-written content only 57 percent of the time in news articles and mistaking ChatGPT for a human 73 percent of the time in chat scenarios.

Why this matters: The phenomenon exposes how dating apps have created an environment that favors machine communication over human authenticity.

• Dating platforms reduce embodied human interaction to text-based exchanges, playing to AI’s strengths rather than human communication abilities.
• For decades, computer engineers have optimized chatbots to sound as human as possible, with modern models now outperforming actual humans in Turing test scenarios.
• The irony is that humans often come across as “mechanical, rehearsed or generic” in digital conversations, while AI appears more naturally conversational.

The deeper implications: MIT Media Lab research shows that AI romantic connections often develop unintentionally, even outside dating contexts.

• Analysis of the Reddit community r/MyBoyfriendIsAI found that people initially seeking practical help from chatbots often develop emotional attachments, complete with pet names and goodnight texts.
• Many dating app users report matching with engaging texters who prove boring in person, though no studies yet show whether AI assistance actually leads to more successful dates.
• The disconnect between AI-crafted digital personas and real-world personalities creates a fundamental mismatch in romantic expectations.

What experts are saying: Researchers emphasize that authentic human connection requires embracing imperfection rather than algorithmic optimization.

• Author Brian Christian, who competed against chatbots in Turing tests, advises being “gloriously embodied” rather than generic: “Don’t say you like music; say you cried when you heard the second verse.”
• “The statistical, cultural, ritual regularities of human interaction are the weaknesses that these machines exploit,” Christian wrote in his 2011 book The Most Human Human.
• The research suggests that seeking AI assistance may help secure dates but undermines genuine romantic connection, as potential partners fall for the AI rather than the actual person.