‘AI love you’ and
other Valentine lies

Research released in the build-up to Valentine’s Day last week revealed that no less than a quarter of respondents to a global survey admitted to flirting with chatbots; while online protection company McAfee said it had blocked 321,509 romance-related scam URLs in just seven weeks leading up to the day.

The global survey, conducted by authentication company World Network (formerly Worldcoin), was taken by more than 90,000 people, making it the largest such human-only online survey of its kind. 

The key findings included:

• Flirting with chatbots: More than a quarter of respondents (26%) admitted to flirting with a chatbot or AI, either for fun or unknowingly.
• Suspicion of fake matches: 60% of participants have either suspected or discovered that someone they matched with was a bot or AI.
• Phishing and bot interactions: 21% of respondents say they’ve experienced phishing attempts, 10% say they’ve interacted with bots and 15% say they’ve encountered both phishing and bots.
• Desire for human verification: A significant 90% of respondents indicated they would prefer dating apps to include a verification system to confirm that users are real humans.
• Lack of confidence in user verification: Two-thirds of respondents (66%) believe dating apps don’t take adequate measures to verify real humans.
• Concern about bots and fake profiles: 61% of respondents say they’re concerned about encountering bots or fake profiles on dating apps.

Meanwhile, new research by McAfee revealed that more than half (52%) of US adults in its sample have been scammed out of money or pressured to send money or gifts by someone they met online.

While the McAfee survey was significantly smaller and regionally limited, the company said it showed that social media, messaging platforms and AI chatbots were fuelling an explosion of online romance fraud. It also backed up the findings of the World survey. McAfeee, too, found 26% of respondents interacting with an AI chatbot posing as a human.

“Technology has revolutionised communication by enabling instant connections across the globe, fostering deeper relationships and collaboration regardless of physical distance – but unfortunately, it’s also transforming the way scammers operate,” said Abhishek Karnik, head of threat research at McAfee. 

“More than 1 in 4 people (26%) say they or someone they know has been approached by an AI chatbot posing as a real person on a dating app or social media, and an alarming 76% believe scammers could easily use AI to fake romantic relationships and manipulate victims financially or emotionally. As AI-powered scams become more convincing, it’s more important than ever for people to stay vigilant and protect themselves online.”

Tiago Sada, chief product officer of World partner Tools for Humanity, said: “It’s no secret that, for many singles, dating apps such as Bumble, Hinge and Tinder are the default place to look for love. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to know whether your match is, indeed, a real human. With catfishing and unwanted bot interactions on dating apps gaining prevalence, we need tools that take away the guesswork, so people can keep matching, dating and finding love without worry or deception.”

World was co-founded as Worldcoin by Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI, and in 2023 launched its own cryptocurrency token. It came under severe regulatory and media criticism, and was ordered to cease operations in numerous countries, including Kenya, one of the first where it was launched, with authorities citing security, privacy and financial concerns.  Last year the company was rebranded as World, focusing on authenticating human beings through a “World ID”.

In short, you can’t trust the AI in love, but you also have to keep your eyes wide open for those calling out the AI.