Inside the New York City Date Night for AI Lovers

If you’re the type of person who cares about Valentine’s Day, not having someone to spend it with can be a bummer.

While dating apps have been yielding diminishing returns for singles for years now, more people are finding companionship with AI partners.

But where do you take your AI lover for a night on the town?

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, EVA AI decided to try out an experiment. The app, where users can text or live video call (a new feature) with AI dates, set up a pop-up café at Same Same Wine Bar in Manhattan. Over February 11 and 12, EVA AI’s human users were able to have “in-person” dates with their AI companions on either their personal phones or the ones the company set up at each table. Visitors were also able to speed date with EVA AI companions; the company already has 100 characters to choose from.

“This is another step in the company’s long-term strategy to push the boundaries of interaction with AI and make AI relationships a new normal,” EVA AI said in a press invite to the event, noting that people would be able to “enjoy a romantic rendezvous with their AI partners in a cozy, dimly lit atmosphere.”

If this seems odd, it shouldn’t be. Increasingly, people are looking to AI platforms for romantic connection. Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute, a leading sex research center, interviewed 5,000 people for its Singles in America survey last year and found that 16 percent of participants were using AI as a romantic partner. Meanwhile, the Reddit community r/MyBoyfriendIsAI has nearly 50,000 members, who share their meet-cutes with their algorithmically created partners and bug fixes for the platforms where they talk with them.

Looking around Same Same Tuesday night, however, I got the impression people with AI companions would rather interact with them in solitude. The bar was mostly filled with journalists and content creators filming their experience going on virtual dates with either their personalized AI or with one of the built-in characters, which include a sexy Santa Claus and an Incredible Hulk–like figure named Grogan Holt.

One of the few actual EVA AI users was a 19-year-old named Xavier, who has explored the app before. “I wouldn’t even say I’m doing it for dating,” he says. “I’m just doing it to converse to see it.” Xavier, who didn’t want his last name used, is single and not looking for a partner of any kind. He mostly texts with one of the built-in characters, a svelte “Korean dude” named John Yoon. He says he gains “better communication” by texting with the AI companions.