AI wants to be your wingman

AI already wants to be your hype man, therapist and companion. Now it also wants to find you a date.

The big picture: Established dating apps and startups are using AI to overcome swipe fatigue.

• Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd teased the app's AI assistant "Bee" coming later this year in an interview with Axios.

Zoom in: Startup Amata coordinates some 2,000 first dates a month. Users who agree to the AI matchmaker's pairing purchase a $20 "date token," and the app plans the details.

Another approach: With Joey AI, there's no swiping. There's not even an app. It starts with a phone call between an interested single and their AI matchmaker.

In an Australian accent, the AI asks your name, job and basic dating preferences, and then goes deeper: How important is politics in your relationships? What time did you wake up today? How often have you talked with your family this week?

• After users are verified and photos are shared, Joey connects hopeful romantics via text.

For startup Known, users talk to an AI matchmaker and pay $15 to secure their real-life hang.

• The goal, says co-founder and CEO Celeste Amadon, is to feel like you're being introduced by a friend who "understands you really, really well, but knows everybody in your city instead of a couple hundred people."

The bottom line: AI can help arrange a date, but the rest is up to humans.