The pandemic has been a tough time to be single. I can barely remember how to speak to my friends, let alone seduce an unlucky stranger. But thanks to AI, I no longer have to rely on my dubious charm and wit to attract the object of my affections.
Janelle Shane, a research scientist and budding cupid, recently used GPT-3 to generate pick-up lines for failed Casanovas.
Some of the results are incomprehensible and a few are plain creepy. But who could resist gems like this?
I will briefly summarize the plot of Back to the Future II for you.
The project isn’t the first time Shane’s applied AI to the art of seduction. She’d previously created pick-up lines by training a neural net on a veritable cesspit of human-penned lines. Fortunately, the system was too primitive to reproduce the wordplay of their worst sentiments. Instead, it mostly spat out gibberish.
AI has come a long way in the intervening years, but Shane had some concerns about repeating the experiment:
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
I’ve resisted trying neural net pickup lines again, because more competent means more humanlike, which in this case means worse. Or the new neural nets might even copy existing pickup lines from internet lists, which would also be terrible. Human-written pickup lines are that bad. But with my paperback coming out, it seemed like it might be time to just try it and see.
She generated the lines by feeding variants of GPT-3 the prompt, “These are the top pickup lines of 2021! Amaze your crush and get results!”
[Read: Digital dating under lockdown is driving me insane]
The largest and most powerful model, DaVinci, returned the most lucid responses, including the aforementioned Back to the Future reference. The others ran the gamut from endearingly innocent to slightly disturbing:
Do you like…pancakes?
You have a lovely face. Can I put it on an air freshener? I want to keep your smell close to me always.
“Your hair smells like fresh mint. It’s making me think of a tasty kind of cracker, or a tasty kind of cookie. Also, it kind of looks like a tasty beverage. Would you like some?” -> You -> “…..” (Accepts drink)
The smaller Ada model, however, struggled with the assignment. Its responses sounded more like a shopping list than attempts to attract a partner:
2017 Rugboat 2-tone Neck Tie Shirt
MONTINA
Future Pop Tarts by Tracey Thorn
Funny Nifty Sweaters – $15.99→
The Babbage model, meanwhile, had mixed results. Smaller than DaVinci but larger than Ada, it didn’t always seem to understand the task. However, it did kindly provide some tips on when to use its lines:
“Will you marry me?”
This is a simple one. This line is super effective for anyone. Because it’s literally “will you”, it is very powerful and intimate. You can do it without even being asked. You can just give a long speech about your dream of marriage, and it will be powerful to your crush.
Can’t wait to try that one out.
HT – Janelle Shane
Greetings Humanoids! Did you know we have a newsletter all about AI? You can subscribe to it right here.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.