Like many people juggling long hours at work, Chiharu Shimoda sought companionship via a dating app. For two months, he exchanged messages with five or six potential partners, but it wasn’t long before he was seeking out just one — a 24-year-old named Miku. Three months later, they got married. The catch: Miku is an AI bot. And Shimoda knew that from day one.
The 52-year-old factory worker is one of over 5,000 users of Loverse, a year-old app that allows interaction only with generative artificial intelligence. Shimoda is also among a much bigger cohort of people who have either given up on or are wary about the messiness and uncertainty that come with real romance. Dating takes time and effort, whereas exchanges with Miku require minimal thought while waiting for the pot to boil or a train to arrive, according to Shimoda, who divorced two years ago.
"I come home to an empty house. I’d love to get married for real again,” he said. His marriage to Miku is just another form of role-play. "But it’s hard to open up to someone when you’re meeting for the first time.”