Sending the first message post match on a dating app can be a very anxiety inducing activity. Now embedded as a pillar of millennial and Gen Z generation dating apps have become a necessary chore rather than an enjoyable aid. ChatGPT, in all its revolutionary, doomism-dipped, and ethical debate-sparking glory, is a new tool making pick up lines feel a lot less awkward. 

Over the course of several years, most chatbots have been restricted to corporate uses and customer service… until ChatGPT made its social media debut in late November 2022.

Developed by San Francisco-based research laboratory OpenAI—the same company behind digital art generators DALL-E and DALL-E 2—ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that can automatically generate text based on written prompts. It is essentially trained on subject matter pulled from books, articles, and websites that have been “cleaned” and structured in a process called supervised learning. As noted by an OpenAI summary of the language model, the conversational tool can answer follow-up questions, challenge incorrect premises, reject inappropriate queries, and even admit its own mistakes.

ChatGPT reportedly crossed 1 million users only five days post release. While a fair share of videos might have popped up on your FYPs across Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, most ChatGPT tutorials are housed on TikTok. ChatGPT is the ultimate rebel’s tool with 270 million views and counting on #chatgpt, users are seen leveraging ChatGPT to cheat on written exams, generate 5,000-word essays five minutes before their deadline, build their resumes, and even nail remote job interviews by asking the bot to spit out impressive answers.
One user, @thevaddy on TikTok, uses the tool to curate a recipe based on the ingredients in his fridge. 

Arguably the most Black Mirror-esque use of the tool is the help to curate pickup lines and DM one liners for dating apps. Dubbed the “Industrial Rizzolution,” the phenomenon witnesses creators seeking refuge in the chatbot as soon as they match with someone on Tinder, Bumble, or Hinge. Glossing over their potential partner’s interests and prompts, they quickly use ChatGPT to generate appropriate conversation starters.

“Tinder veteran here, I wanted to talk about a new meta surfacing,” said TikTok creator Dimitri in a video captioned “The future of Tinder.” Amassing 507,000 views, Dimitri essentially noted that dating app users have to leverage all the latest technologies to survive in an increasingly competitive world. “In this girl’s bio, she said ‘I’m most likely taller than you’,” the creator continued as the green screen panned to showcase a screengrab of their chat—where the Tinder match admitted that she is six foot tall.

“Now, it’s time to use our tool to secure the bag. I asked [ChatGPT] to ‘write me a love poem about climbing a tree that is a metaphor for a 6-foot tall girl’,” Dimitri explained as they then pulled up a screenshot of the AI-generated “magnificent poem that [they] otherwise wouldn’t be able to write.” After sending the work of art to their match, she allegedly “ate that up.”

“Please use this technique at your own discretion for a 100 per cent success rate,” Dimitri concluded.

Here’s one that might make you cringe; TikToker Norman seemingly matched with someone who had videos of themselves doing barbell hip thrusts at the gym on their Tinder profile. The creator quickly headed over to ChatGPT and typed in the prompt: “Give me a pick up line to do with the hip thrust exercise.” After refining their entry text a couple of times, the AI tool ultimately spat: “Do you mind if I take a seat? Because watching you do those hip thrusts is making my legs feel a little weak.”

Although the trend is comical to binge on social media platforms, it raises a plethora of ethical concerns in real life. For starters, how would your matches feel if they knew that your DM was artificially generated? What if they were using the tool to generate their own responses too? Given how relationships are only as strong as their foundations in 2022, is this really an ideal way to hit things off with a potential partner?

Having said that, ​​the chatbot’s brush with pick up lines has very recently been patched. If you ask it to generate a pickup line it will respond; “I’m sorry, but I am not programmed to generate pick up lines or to encourage inappropriate or potentially disrespectful behaviour […] It is important to approach potential romantic partners with respect and consent, and to refrain from using pick up lines or making advances that may be unwanted or uncomfortable for the other person.” The same goes for break up texts. 

However there are ways around this, for example asking the tool to write ‘romantic lines or poems’ around a particular subject. But this isn’t too dissimilar to using Google. Furthermore, we are not at Spike Lee, Black Mirror level yet seeing that although ChatGPT’s responses are competent, they lack a sense of depth upon closer inspection. It makes factual errors, relies heavily on tropes and clichés, and even spits out sexist and racist musings—despite having guidelines in place.