Can AI Find Your Next Summer Romance?

In a new wave of AI-powered dating apps, singles are handing over the work of finding a partner to chatbots that act as matchmakers—spending 15 minutes to an hour getting to know users before pitching them a date, booking it, and sending them out the door for a fee of $15 to $25. Meanwhile, a Wall Street Journal investigation reveals that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deployed a round-the-clock digital surveillance program to identify critics on social media, using subpoenas to force platforms like X and Reddit to unmask anonymous posters.

The AI Matchmaker: Less Swiping, More Paying

The latest generation of AI dating apps is a departure from earlier attempts that fizzled out. Those apps let users create AI clones that would go on virtual dates with each other, but the technology wasn't good enough to capture a real person. The new model, which WSJ reporter Molly Reineman calls "AI matchmaker apps," works differently. Users talk to a chatbot for 15 minutes to an hour, telling it details a traditional app wouldn't ask—favorite restaurants, why the last relationship ended. The AI then uses algorithmic matching to find a compatible person, returns an AI-generated summary of them, and if both parties agree, the app books the date.