Even San Francisco is turning away from AI

Even San Francisco is turning away from AI

In San Francisco, AI has become a reason to turn down a date

AI as a reason to say no

For years, San Francisco remained a place with an especially large number of AI supporters. Outside the Bay Area, they were often surprised by the hostility toward the technology among people outside the industry. Now skepticism is visible in the city itself—at least among dating app users.

A 25-year-old analyst told The Verge that Hinge has a field where users can describe who they are likely to get along with. Some users write “Fuck AI” there. After scrolling through profiles for a few minutes, the publication’s interviewee found one with a warning: people who use AI should not date its author.

Attitudes toward the technology are also showing up beyond dating apps. Over the past few months, several Bay Area cities, including San Francisco, Oakland and Richmond, have introduced short-term moratoriums on data center construction. Other sources of frustration include the spread of absurd AI-generated food posters and driverless robotaxis.

Anxiety about the future and interest in AI

For one of The Verge’s interviewees, AI matters when choosing a partner for a different reason. He works at a nonprofit focused on AI safety and considers the risk that the technology could destroy the world when thinking about the future and whether to have children.

He said many people plan what they want their lives to look like in five, ten or fifteen years, while he finds it hard to discuss long-term plans because he does not expect there to be a long-term future. He is unsure whether he would date someone in AI: he thinks people in the field give little thought to the impact of their actions on society, since they are usually motivated by a salary or personal interest.

An AI agent runs a Hinge profile

Some San Francisco residents bring AI into their personal lives not as a reason to reject someone, but as a tool. A 21-year-old software engineer told The Verge he automated his search for dates because he is busy running a startup. An AI agent runs his Hinge account: it imitates his texting style and behavior, messages women on its own, evaluates how well they suit him and adds dates to his calendar.

The engineer said he chose this approach to protect his time: a startup founder, he said, should not spend it on low-return activities. He claims to go on two dates a week, and says his setup has lowered the metric he calls “CPN”—“cost per orgasm.”

Dataist's take: In one city, AI is seen at once as a risk to the future, an irritant in daily life and a way to automate dating. The contrast is especially striking against the backdrop of data center moratoriums and profiles where AI use becomes a reason to say no.