Dating technologies and conversational AI are reshaping early romance, and experts warn the changes could blunt everyday interpersonal skills. Reporting by Fox News Digital highlights how AI in dating is already being used to craft profiles, generate witty replies and even draft breakups — practices that Jackie Dorman and Dr. Christina Tracy Stein say can have real consequences for authenticity and accountability.
AI in dating: what experts report
Jackie Dorman, founder of the Last Year Single program, told Fox News Digital that the trend toward relying on AI tools for dating communication is “making us relationally stupid.” That phrase frames her clinical observation: when people lean on sophisticated language models, they may stop exercising the conversational skills that develop through imperfect, awkward exchanges.
Dr. Christina Tracy Stein, a licensed marriage and family therapist, told Fox News Digital she sees a more mixed picture. In her clinical experience, AI can be a useful way to organize thoughts or reduce anxiety before difficult conversations, but she warned that overreliance risks replacing authentic human-to-human exchange. Both experts describe patterns rooted in practice and therapy work rather than citing new empirical studies; their statements in Fox News Digital are best read as expert opinion and clinical observation.
How people use AI on dating apps
Experts told Fox News Digital that users apply generative AI across the dating workflow. Common, reported uses include:
- Using chatbots and large language models like ChatGPT to write witty replies, openers and follow-ups that feel polished.
- Hiring AI or prompt-driven tools to craft dating profiles that emphasize appealing traits and a clever tone.
- Outsourcing difficult messages — including breakups, rejections and awkward or boundary-setting texts — to AI-generated drafts.
- Practicing conversational scenarios with conversational agents such as Claude or other chat services as a low-stakes rehearsal tool.
These behaviors, reported to Fox News Digital by Dorman and Stein, can produce smoother-sounding messages online but also create a mismatch between a curated profile or AI-written text and how someone actually behaves in person.
Why it matters
Both experts frame the implications around three connected concepts: relational skills, authenticity and accountability. In their view, frequent reliance on AI can reduce opportunities to practice vulnerability and responsiveness, two core elements of developing emotional connection.
Stein described interactions shaped by AI as often “very one-sided” in clinical terms: there is limited chance to feel the social consequences of a tone, a joke or a harsh message when those exchanges are tested against a nonjudgmental chatbot. Dorman warned that polished output can create a bait-and-switch effect, where someone’s online persona reads as confident or humorous but in-person interaction exposes gaps, robbing people of the learning that comes from small relational failures.
These are expert observations rather than experimental findings. Framing them as clinical or professional interpretation helps distinguish opinion from empirical research while preserving the practical warning: the social practice of dating changes when technology removes friction and accountability.
How to use AI without losing relational skills
Both Jackie Dorman and Dr. Christina Tracy Stein offered practical, experience-based strategies to keep AI in dating a helpful tool rather than a replacement for relational growth. Their guidance, as reported by Fox News Digital, centers on deliberate limits and habit changes.
- Use AI to organize thoughts, not to replace conversation. Treat generated text as a draft or a sketch of what you want to say rather than a final script to send verbatim.
- Show up in person and practice real conversations. Repeated face-to-face or voice interactions build the “reps” that sharpen responsiveness and emotional attunement.
- Adapt AI output into your own voice. Edit for the phrases you would actually say; if something feels off, that dissonance is an important signal about authenticity.
- Avoid outsourcing emotionally consequential tasks. For breakups or boundary-setting, lean on personal accountability: use AI to prepare, then deliver the message yourself in a way that acknowledges impact.
- Use friends or a therapist as a reality check. Before sending a message generated by AI, ask someone you trust whether it sounds like you and whether it respects the other person’s humanity.
As Stein advised in the Fox News Digital report: pause and ask, “Is this information helping me evaluate what feels authentic?” If it doesn’t, the safer choice is to rely on your own instincts and the relational work of practice.
“This trend is making us relationally stupid,” — Jackie Dorman, founder of the Last Year Single program, reflecting on what polished AI outputs can hide from real-life interaction (Fox News Digital).
Concludingly, AI can speed up early-stage dating tasks and reduce anxiety, but experts quoted by Fox News Digital caution that overuse risks eroding the very conversational muscles that help relationships thrive. Practiced limits — using AI as a rehearsal tool, adapting language into your real voice and taking responsibility for sensitive communications — help preserve authenticity and relational growth.
Source attribution
Reporting and expert quotes in this article are drawn from Fox News Digital: Fox News Digital. The piece cites observations and quotes from Jackie Dorman and Dr. Christina Tracy Stein; their perspectives are presented as professional opinion and clinical observation in that reporting.
