A 'Clippy'-Style Chatbot -- and Other Creepy Online Dating Innovations

An anonymous reader quotes Yahoo Finance:
The dating site eharmony is hoping to launch a chatbot to stop people from ghosting, or cutting off communication with potential matches, CEO Grant Langston exclusively tells Yahoo Finance. The would-be feature, which eharmony has yet to start development on, would pop up in the user interface after an online conversation with another user drops off after several days or weeks. The dating bot could analyze information on both users' dating profiles and recommend they reinitiate contact by prompting them to 'Say something' or suggesting something more helpful.... 'It's astounding really how many people need help. We think we can do that in an automated way...'
Langston acknowledges the business has a lot to troubleshoot with the feature before it eventually rolls it out, including addressing possible user concerns around user privacy. While having a feature like the date bot could hypothetically increase the odds of a user scoring that first date, it could also unnerve some other users wondering how their prospective suitor knew to ask about their favorite musician, movie or music to begin with. Such concerns could theoretically call for privacy options regulating what kind of profile information the bot can grab and serve up as an icebreaker. The dating site could also decide to generally reign in what the dating bot suggests based on user testing. 'Just because you can doesn't necessarily mean you should do,' adds Langston.
Meanwhile, a Michigan-based startup has launched what one alternative newsweekly describes as a 'Yelp for humans' -- a new browser extension that syncs with a user's pre-existing dating profile on sites like Match.com, OkCupid, PlentyOf Fish, eHarmony, Zoosk or Badoo. 'Once installed, a user can leave anonymous comments regarding someone's profile based on dates or interactions gone wrong and those comments can be viewed by other DateAha! users to better inform whether or not the person is a total creep.'

And of course, Facebook is testing a new dating app in two more countries, People reports.
In order to use the new online dating service, Facebook users will be tasked with creating a new profile that will exist separately from the one that all of your friends and family can see... The dating service will send you suggested matches based 'on your preferences, interests, and things you do on Facebook,' but the app won't try to make a love connection with any of your Facebook friends (or anybody you have blocked), Facebook promises... You will also have the ability to block or hide anybody -- including specific friends of friends -- from your suggested matches.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.