The Rise of the Flirtbot

Every so often, someone asks us about the viability of dating sites (they're viable, but competition is huge....) and the last time I was asked (a few weeks ago) I was looking over a few papers when Futurist Iain Pearson's 2005 article "The Future of Flirting" popped up. I recall reading it at the time as we were researching types of SocNets and dating sites were early entrants. Its been on my spike the last few weeks, so here it is (abridged), for your enjoyment on what must be one of the really slow news days of the year:

On Flirting:

Flirting has certainly moved on in the last decade. People today can flirt with each other in chat rooms, in on-line games, via email and text messaging (flirting actually accounts for most text messaging). A few people use Bluetooth to send anonymous messages to other peoples’ phones. None of these were in significant use 15 years ago and even by 1995, only a fraction of the population had email or mobile phones. Now, most people have had some experience of electronically mediated flirting. People often say things in a text that they wouldn’t dare say face to face. They can squeeze in a little smiley or an LOL at the end of a message to test the water without any serious risk. Did the LOL really mean ‘lots of love’ or was it the ‘lots of laughs’? If the person plays along, they can safely proceed to the next level, sneaking in a little x at the end of the text. But the ambiguity gives a welcome path of retreat without loss of face in case of rejection.

On Mobile Games:

Mobile device technology is improving rapidly. Messaging technology is becoming multimedia, so video clips, photos, cartoons and games can now all be used to flirt via a mobile phone. Soon, we will be able to send directional messages, so that provided you have reasonable aim, you could send a compliment to someone you fancy across the room, even without knowing who they are. Various forms of ego badges will communicate automatically with ones other people are wearing, electronically exchanging details of our personality, sexual preferences, availability, willingness, and maybe desperation level.

Anyone ever read Brian Aldiss's book The Primal Urge, which explores the effects on society of a forehead-mounted Emotion Register that glows when the wearer experiences sexual attraction. (Tsk, thats Science Fiction, not Futurism ). Anyway..........

Software would work out compatibility level, and if appropriate, would alert both people that they should chat, maybe by beeping, vibrating, flashing lights, romantic music, perfume, whatever. With virtual air concepts developing, we might even be able to leave virtual pheromone trails as we wander around, so that people can track each other down. I’ve often heard people remark that a difficult pursuit is half the fun, even if that’s not my personal experience. Well, it can be made as difficult as they like. A person could make themselves the prize at the end of a really tough treasure hunt, or detective game, where only potential suitors are even allowed to play at all.

But this passage is my favourite:

Artificial intelligence will also play a part in flirting in the future. If you have a number of flirty relationships, you might not have time to invest properly in each one, so AI will be essential to stand in for you when you can’t interact personally. You may be able to convey much of your personality to an AI, and it could then pass of as you sometimes. So you could get a lot more fun, with little extra personal effort. But I wonder how often we will then see AIs just flirting with each other. If neither of the people are available, or both have lost interest but just didn’t want to hurt the other person, their AIs could be flirting away madly in the background, with no-one watching.

Yes, the Flirtbot will be the must have thing of 2015, you heard it here first. Actually, I suspect very soon on Twitter the pimps will be talking directly to the bots.....

By the way, I filed this piece under Online Advertising, as that of course is what this all is......