AI-powered meet-up apps fight loneliness

During a summer evening in San Francisco, JT Mason went to dinner with five strangers, convinced that he would have a good time thanks to a careful selection of customers by a new type of application to meet people.

The platform, called 222, promises something different from your typical dating application.

“I don’t get the image they want people to see. I receive real human beings,” said the 25 -year -old paramedical.

Before the evening, Mason fulfilled a long questionnaire covering her values, his interests, his tolerance to the drug, his character traits and his other personal criteria.

After dinner, he joined other users of applications in a private decor bar, all hoping to meet potential friends or perhaps find something more.

Once the connections have been established, everyone has the opportunity to say to the application that the people they like to see – or not – and to explain why.

According to 222, the artificial intelligence of the application becomes particularly effective to match users after having participated in several events, from dinners to yoga sessions to improvisation classes.

“Regarding AI, coming to the point of understanding human chemistry, I think they are far enough,” observed Mason, but said that he thought it can serve as “first step to bring us to the table to try to create this connection”.

The prediction of compatibility between foreigners using AI has become the obsession of Keyan Kazemian and its co-founders at 222, which now operates in several major cities of London in Los Angeles.

The 26 -year -old entrepreneur hopes to “help people not only establish initial ties and move on to the next interaction, but to help people who already know themselves to train long and lasting relationships”.

After working at Match Group – the mother company of Tinder and Hinge – he concluded that traditional dating applications “seek only one thing: will you slide to the following person?”

Most new technologies “really place people not with other humans, but with virtual entities,” he added, referring to social media and AI assistants.

’15 cigarettes per day ‘

The growing difficulties facing the training of significant relationships have alarmed health professionals.

In 2017, the United States general surgeon Vivek Murthy described an “loneliness epidemic”.

In a 2023 report, he warned that “the impact of mortality of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes per day, and even more than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity”.

He has cited increased risks of cardiovascular diseases, dementia and depression.

The causes, according to various studies, include the gradual disappearance of traditional socialization institutions, addictive digital platforms and, more recently, pandemic and remote work.

“Emotionally difficult”

When Isabella Epstein moved to New York in 2021 to work in an investment bank, she “tried everything” to establish connections.

Freshly out of a small university in rural vermont and accustomed to united communities, she experienced applications and joined the clubs – all in vain.

“It was an emotionally difficult period for me,” recalls Epstein.

“I ended up approaching foreigners in the street, in cafes. I would say to a woman:” I love your outfit “or stop someone and ask:” What do you read? “People were very positively receptive.”

Over time, the young woman has accumulated hundreds of contacts.

She started organizing impromptu events – by inviting some to Happy Hours, others to pickleball matches – and gradually created her own circle of friends.

Passionate about the resolution of this widespread problem, she left her job and launched “KNDRD”.

The application targets women under the age of 40, allowing its 10,000 users of around 10,000 users to suggest activities and find partners for them.

Other services similar to 222 and KDRD have emerged in recent years, including Timeleft, plots and realroots.

“The positive side of these applications is that their corporate model was not based on the time spent online,” noted Felix-Olivier Ngangue, an investor at Convivialite Ventures.

“It is in their interest for people to meet in real life.”

© 2025 AFP