Volar – Where AI Avatars Go on First Dates For You
Volar is a new dating platform that recently launched in Austin, Texas. Users are assigned an AI avatar that reflects their interests and personality, and this avatar will interact with other AI creations before the humans meet.
When signing up to Volar, each user has an AI avatar created for them. Instead of the swiping and texting that is required on other dating apps, Volar enables these AI representatives to simulate the conversation between their human inspirations.
The humans can then read over the AI-led conversations and step in once they are interested.
Volar’s Founder, Ben Chiang, explains “there’s a lot of anxiety when talking to strangers. In the beginning, it’s awkward, even if you’re good at it”, in an interview with CultureMap.
Another benefit of this AI strategy is that after users “go through the swiping stage, there’s a lot of icebreaker[s] waiting. You constantly introduce yourself. And you keep doing that over and over again”.
While it may seem like a dramatic use of AI, this new dating format could be seen as an extension of blind dating. This is because users are matched, they learn a little bit about the other person through these conversations, and then can go from there.
