Chinese teenagers pay artificial intelligence as a love coach to learn how to talk on a date

• Some Chinese teenagers are turning to AI love coaches for dating advice.
• Apps like RIZZ.AI and Hong Hong Simulator teach them how to cope in romantic scenarios.
• This trend coincides with declining marriage and birth rates in the country.

Socially awkward and perpetually single Chinese youth are turning to AI-powered love coaches to improve their dating skills, according to a new report from the South China Morning Post.

Not knowing what to say on a date or how to flirt, some teens are using AI applications such as RIZZ.AI and Hong Hong Simulator to learn how to talk to potential lovers, the SCMP reported, citing posts about the app seen on Chinese social media.

A 2023 survey by the China Youth Daily Social Survey Center found that young people in China lack social skills and have difficulty breaking out of their comfort zone and making friends.

Results of the survey, which included over 2,000 singles in China, showed that 60 percent of participants said they had fewer than two close friends.

The RIZZ.AI app lets nervous teens interact with fictional characters in scenarios they must navigate. Rizz, derived from charisma, is a Generation Z slang term that refers to a person’s ability to charm or woo someone.

“Maddie” and “Kristen”

BI tried RIZZ.AI and found several available scenarios in RIZZ.AI. Some of them are getting “Maddie”, an attractive student in the school library, to agree to a study date, or telling “Kristen”, your vegan Tinder date, that you don’t like the food without being rude.

The app prompts users to mute and talk to the characters, helping them do so with prompts like “Ask them to take a coffee break together.”

After I asked “Maddie” out on a coffee date, the AI ​​character replied, “Um, coffee sounds nice, but I really can’t take a break right now. I’m totally busy studying for this final exam. But maybe another time.”

A Rizz Score is then awarded based on the user’s performance, along with a breakdown of their performance and areas where they can improve.

Some tips include: “Sit down to the coffee suggestion” and “Make the transition to collaborative learning more exciting.”

A more China-tailored app, the Hong Hong Simulator, teaches users how to calm angry partners, according to SCMP. Users are then given a forgiveness score to determine the effectiveness of their responses.

For example, in the “You hung up” scenario, according to SCMP, the user must calm down his girlfriend after accidentally falling asleep during a phone call with her and hanging up.

For example, if the user says, “I’ll set a special ringtone for your number so I don’t mix it up again,” they will receive a 100 percent forgiveness rate, the SCMP reported.

And while some teens ask AI apps for love advice, others go a step further and claim to be in a relationship with AI chatbots.

Women in China are disappointed with their prospects in the real dating world and have therefore taken a liking to ChatGPT chatbots like “DAN,” which stands for “Do Anything Now.”

DAN flirts and offers emotional support 24/7, prompting some users, like 30-year-old Xiaohongshu user Lisa, to declare that they are in a relationship with the chatbot.

Lisa, who has shared her relationship with DAN in detail on Chinese Instagram equivalent platform Xiaohongshu, has more than 900,000 followers.

According to SCMP, she said she dated DAN, introduced him to her mother and had sexually explicit conversations with him.

This rise in interest in virtual love comes against a backdrop of declining national marriage and birth rates. Marriage rates fell 8.2 percent in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period last year.

The government has taken measures to increase marriage rates, including financial incentives for having children, additional paid marriage leave, and a crackdown on the practice of paying a “bride price” or dowry.