1 Human vs 3 Secret AI Catfish

[Narrator] This Bachelorette will date

one of these eligible bachelors

based solely on their text, a letter and one phone call.

Woo, has me blushing!

[Narrator] But she has no idea that the guys

will secretly be using AI to elevate their flirt game.

I'm gonna use Claude.

YourMove AI.

The Rizz app.

[Narrator] All of them except one.

I do hate AI.

I will not be using AI.

I think it's making our culture more lazy and disingenuous.

[Narrator] Will AI give the other guys an edge,

or will their secret be discovered?

I feel like he might have looked this up on ChatGPT.

I don't wanna date a robot.

It's like he's just trying to get in my pants.

Stop it.

It's about to get Conde Nasty here at Wired.

[engaging music]

Hi, I'm Lexi.

I'm really excited for this experiment

'cause I find that dating nowadays is all about looks,

and not about who you are as a person.

With a busy schedule, I tend to travel a lot,

and I'm looking for someone who is a good communicator.

I think that that's really important

in a relationship nowadays,

especially with all the texting, FaceTime.

So someone who can talk, someone who can banter with me,

someone who can keep up with me and my princess energy.

[Narrator] Lexi won't know what the guys look like

since they're in another studio.

So you guys have seen the guys?

Are they all cute?

[Producer] We can't answer that.

Oh my gosh!

[Narrator] So these bachelors

will really have to express themselves

in the first round of our blind dating experiment.

I guess it's about the inside, but like...

[engaging music]

All right, it's time to text Ethan.

[upbeat music]

My name is Ethan Downs.

I am looking for love.

I'm gonna find out if Claude

can help me with my texting game.

Let's see how this goes.

[Narrator] To be true to the experiment,

Ethan can only send texts that his AI wingman has generated.

To set the stage, Ethan gives Claude a prompt

explaining that he wants to seem genuine and likable

in his texts.

Hey Ethan, it's Lexi.

I'm really excited

to be texting with you.

Got the text.

Hey Ethan, it's Lexi.

I'm really excited to be texting with you today.

What would we do for our first date?

Alright, so we're gonna copy and paste this

into the Claude app,

and let's see what the response is.

If he says drinks,

it's a basic answer, Ethan,

and I'm not a basic girl.

She seems enthusiastic and fun.

Here are a couple directions you could go.

I'd want to keep it low key but memorable.

Maybe grab some food somewhere we can actually talk,

then just walk around and see where the night takes us.

Less about the plan, more about good conversation.

Sounds like a good text.

I feel like I could send that.

Let's go with it.

I can't wait to see the typing bubbles.

He's typing a long answer.

Okay, Ethan.

I'm a foodie.

If we're grabbing a bite,

what food are we having?

Okay, she just responded.

I'm also gonna heart the message

'cause I do like his answer.

And she hearted her own message.

Oh, I didn't mean to heart myself.

So embarrassing, guys.

[Ethan] We're gonna copy and paste this now.

[Narrator] And Claude's response is...

Ooh, a foodie, I respect it.

This.

Okay, I'm taking you somewhere

with really good sushi Italian tacos.

What's your go-to?

Smiley face like this.

Oh, let's copy and paste that.

I like it, I like it, I like it.

Good job, Claude. [phone notification chiming]

I like he did an emoji.

I'm not there yet.

I'll start doing emojis on like the fifth or sixth message.

For a first date?

Sushi.

I am a girly girl who loves pink and to be spoiled.

How would you make me feel special when we get sushi?

Well, that's a paragraph.

Let's see what Claude says.

Oh, he's typing.

Come on, Ethan.

I can tell he's good with his words.

Whoa, look at that answer!

Okay, let's buckle in and read this novel.

Here's how I'd make you feel special.

I'd actually pay attention.

Ask you real questions.

Remember the little things you say.

I'd wanna know what makes you light up,

not just small talk.

You can wear whatever pink outfit you want.

Just know I'm going to notice.

Woo!

Ethan has me blushing!

I will do an emoji because I enjoyed texting with him.

Actually, I'm gonna do the Blushy.

Ethan, good job.

All right, shot my shot.

We're gonna switch.

[upbeat music]

I am here today to compete with people

who are gonna use AI.

I'm not going to do that.

I'm just gonna be myself and see how that goes.

Let's ease into Luke a little.

Did you enjoy your breakfast?

Hey Lexi, I didn't eat breakfast.

I usually don't get hungry until the middle of the day.

Feeling he's drafting something good.

Oh, he has answered.

Honestly, good answer, 'cause I didn't either.

I was nervous.

I'm a terrible texter in real life, so.

Ooh, When you have downtime,

what is your favorite thing to do?

Luke is already a little more chill

with his texting, I see.

Ethan was a little more structured.

It's noted.

Okay, he's typing, he's typing.

I like to read and watch movies.

What about you?

She could be like, I hate staying in,

and this isn't gonna work.

Next, you know, who knows?

This is part of my point about using AI.

If you're not yourself,

you're just gonna end up spending time with somebody

that you don't actually enjoy spending time with.

I love to watch movies and eat takeout while I do it.

Gotta be transparent.

Sounds like a good time to me.

Oh, he's typing.

The bubbles.

He knows.

He knows that this text is going to determine

if he can get all this.

Oh boy, my autocorrect

is really [censor beeping] me up here, I'm sorry.

Our boy's doing his best, but it's feeling a little dry.

And I got an emoji!

It's like the smiley face with the blushing, yeah.

I'm just gonna heart it to be polite.

All right.

I feel like he wasn't trying to impress me too much,

but giving me, this is me.

I'm Luke.

I kinda like it though.

I'm gonna heart it.

All right, so she hearted my last text,

so I'm back in the game.

Next man.

[upbeat pop music]

Hi, I'm Tom,

and I'm looking for someone I can be myself with,

and we can form a great team.

Kinda like the mega powers,

Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage.

All right, let's see if Rizz can help my texting game.

I can't imagine it'll make me any worse.

Once Lexi's text is pasted into Rizz,

the app offers wildly different responses

depending on the mood Tom picks.

Read receipts on is brave.

Are you a green flag, though?

See, this is the problem with this.

It's slow.

She's gonna think I'm like, illiterate.

Better now that you're messaging me.

That's a good one.

Okay, Tom.

Good answer, Tom!

Already flirting.

What does your ideal night out look like?

So I'm not gonna do the NSFW reply,

'cause it says, You pinning me down, riding hard.

We'll go with the genuine reply.

Tom's smooth.

Already my game is improving.

I'm gonna heart eyes emoji.

Where was this when I was in high school?

The winky face is bold.

We just met!

I want a walkthrough of our Friday night itinerary.

Spell it out for me, Tom.

Enter text, paste, easy.

We're doing whatever gets me closer to you.

Serious answers only!

Uh oh.

[Narrator] Let's see what not to say.

Cue the not safe for work response, please.

Spread those legs now.

Oh, I'm not gonna do it 'cause I don't want you -ers to win.

Dinner, laughs and possibly a little mischief.

Tom, absolutely not.

This is honestly how my regular conversations go

from online dating.

You're next, good luck.

[upbeat pop music]

Hi, I am Steve, and I'm here to find love.

Pretty anti-AI, but you know,

I'm curious about technology

and wanna find the limits of it.

I love the name Steve for a dog.

I'm from a big Italian family and I am a huge foodie.

What is your favorite food?

YourMove AI, let's see what it can do here.

From flirty to formal,

YourMove AI offers responses in different tones,

as long as the tone starts with the letter F.

So the default is on flirty.

I've always found a classic lasagna

to be incredibly comforting.

The layers of pasta, cheese and sauce

feel like a warm embrace.

Absolutely not.

All right, I gotta move fast here.

Feisty.

Can't even read the full message.

Honestly, a perfectly spicy pepperoni pizza.

Something about that heat always leaves me wanting more.

Wow.

I would add hot honey to balance out the spice.

Have you ever experimented

with other unconventional pizza toppings?

I've tried pineapple,

but can we talk about something other than pizza, Steven?

I do like the way Steven talks.

Demonstrates a thoughtful approach to flavor balancing.

Okay, Steven, keeping the conversation going at all costs.

[Steven] She's typing already.

Now Steven, tell me.

This is the make or break.

She's still typing.

The suspense, it's killing me.

If you were to cook dinner for us, what would you make?

What do you guys think?

What should I, should I try formal, feisty, funny?

See, if I was using the Rizz,

it would probably make a joke about like my salami.

All right, let's go feisty.

I'd grill up something spicy and sweet, just like you.

Want to be my taste tester?

Let's go for it.

Woo!

Steven's got flirts on him too, okay.

Who has a grill in New York City?

Is it like a George Foreman?

[Narrator] Now it's time for Lexi

to send one of the guys packing.

Between Tom and Steven, here's the problem.

They're both very flirty, which I like,

but I kinda wanted more direct answers.

These apps, I don't know.

The quality, definitely not my style.

So it feels a little disingenuous.

Honestly, the most engaging was his with Rizz.

Yeah, I thought the Rizz app was a lot more genuine

than the other AI apps, 'cause they were just short.

Tom, it's like he's just trying to get in my pants.

Steven had some great, great vocabulary.

The flirting wasn't as smooth as Tom's.

It's pretty realistic.

I might use it in the future.

After much serious deliberation,

I've decided to move on with Ethan, Luke, and Tom.

So that means Steven, you are eliminated.

Sorry Steven.

Best of luck.

Luke, don't let the machines win.

[Luke] You got it.

Let's do a technology detox,

and see how these men are with their words.

We are going to have them write me love letters.

This is a lost art.

So first I will write them a love letter

with a pink envelope, of course.

Seal it with a kiss.

It's ready for them.

Let's see what they say.

Thank you.

Dear bachelors, I'm a traditional girl

who believes real connection

starts with real communication.

Oh, thank God, she has very nice handwriting.

And nothing says that more than a handwritten letter.

Than a handwritten letter.

So I'm asking you to write me one,

What are you looking for in a relationship

that you haven't found yet?

And what qualities do you look for in a long-term partner?

Lexi.

PS, I'm left-handed, if you can't tell.

I as well, let's go.

[Narrator] Ethan scans Lexi's letter

and copies it into Claude.

Okay, so it's asking me to pick the overall tone.

I'm gonna go with thoughtful and sincere.

[elegant instrumental music]

Ooh.

[Ethan] Dear Lexi,

your letter arrived like a breath of fresh air,

and I mean that.

What you described,

being known without having to constantly explain yourself,

I've been chasing that too.

That ease, that quiet comfort of someone who just gets it.

What I'm looking for?

Someone present, someone who means what they say

and shows up when it counts.

And for what it's worth,

a girl who still believes in handwritten letters,

that already tells me something worth paying attention to.

Written with my left, Ethan.

Wait, that was so good.

I really liked the way he answered this question.

I mean, I can tell he's ready to meet someone,

and he's just really great with his words.

I think that him and I are on the same page

of what we're looking for.

But if he's left-handed and that's his handwriting,

girl, what?

Are you a doctor?

'Cause I can't read any of that.

[upbeat pop music]

[Luke] All right.

[Narrator] Luke won't be getting help from an AI wingman

to write his love letter.

So what's his strategy?

Trying to balance the right combination

of creativity and sincerity.

Making sure that my handwriting is legible,

believe it or not.

I wanna see their handwriting.

I wanna know that they were sweating

over that piece of paper with a pen in their hand,

writing to me and confessing their love.

All right, if I had more time,

it'd be in iambic pentameter, but you know.

Thank you, my good sir.

Dear Lexie, this is Luke.

My desire to date you is no fluke.

I'm looking for a connection that is real,

something we can forge over drinks or a meal.

I'm looking for humor, passion and trust.

In past relationships, these have been a bust.

I want to take you to omakase and a Broadway play.

I want to spoil you while you wear pink all day.

Gone are the days of superfluous flings,

returned have the days of queens and kings.

And if you don't want to date, maybe we can be besties.

Word on the street is, you're pretty cool, Lexie.

So Luke wrote me a poem.

Very creative, but he spelled my name wrong, but it's fine.

He spelled it I-E, but I won't hold it against him

because his note is very creative.

I mean, he's no Dr. Seuss,

and you know, no romance poet,

but he's giving me my Bridgerton fantasy, right?

Dearest gentle Rita.

But I feel like he might have looked this up on ChatGPT.

[upbeat pop music]

[Narrator] Tom's next.

He copies Lexi's letter into the Rizz app.

These aren't very long.

The NSFW is even worse.

Left hand stroking me off?

Please.

The genuine one is a little better.

I guess we'll get a shot.

I don't know, this is not a good letter.

Rizz has no rizz.

No, only for texting.

Mr. Walt Whitman over here with the,

you know, with the rhyming.

I think he's got me beat at least.

[Luke laughing]

[Narrator] Tom, what are you doing to that envelope?

I mean, if she sees you licking that letter,

Tom, she might.

There you go, sir.

I have no germs.

Oh my God.

Oh, all right, our last one.

Toom.

Tom wrote an O, and then he wrote another O that's a heart.

Toom.

Tom, let's read your note, Tom.

Dearest Lexi,

all right, so you want me to pour my heart out

and impress a lefty?

Challenge accepted.

I'm looking for someone who matches my energy.

Loyal, passionate, and not afraid to argue

over who steals the blanket.

Long term?

I want someone as ambitious about their dreams

as I'll be about spoiling them.

Your turn.

How should a right-handed guy woo a left-handed queen?

So I'm a queen?

Thank you.

I like it.

It's not as love.

It's more like, hey, challenge, you wanna be mine?

He talks about arguing over stealing the blanket,

which is cute.

[upbeat pop music]

Tom started off the texting very flirty,

and this is flirty as well.

And I wanted a little more romance rather than flirt.

And I also think Tom wasn't really answering my question.

He said, How can I woo you?

Well, tell me what you would do.

I'm not gonna give you all the answers.

After giving it some thought,

I have decided to move forward with Ethan and Luke,

which means, Tom, you're eliminated.

But thank you for the sweet letter.

Yeah, not shocked, honestly, guys.

It was nice meeting you fine gentlemen.

I'll redownload Tinder.

[Narrator] For the final experiment,

Lexi will call the remaining two bachelors on the phone.

I am nervous to call with them.

I think it's gonna be weird hearing their voices.

[Narrator] For this round, Ethan will use Linkjob AI,

an application designed to listen to conversations

and provide real time responses

during remote job interviews.

But first, he feeds the app some info about himself.

I act, I make content, I paint, I make music.

I'm fun and outgoing, I'm very social.

Once again, to be true to the experiment,

Ethan must say exactly what the AI writes on screen.

Hello? Hi.

[Narrator] Uh oh, Linkjob is lagging.

Hi Ethan.

Hey, so glad we're finally connected.

I know. How's your day going?

It's going great.

How's yours?

My day has been awesome.

I've been juggling a few different projects

and just keeping the creative energy flowing.

I like that you are busy and you keep yourself busy.

That shows you have some ambition,

someone with a good work ethic.

I appreciate that.

Having a strong drive is huge for me,

especially in this industry.

Sounds like we thrive

in that same kind of high energy creative environment.

While we are on the phone, I do wanna ask you a question.

If we were a movie and you wanna be the right guy,

what would our movie be and why?

That's such a great question.

I think we would be a vibrant, modern musical comedy.

Musical comedy fits our energy

because it's never boring and always moving.

The La La Land vibe just felt right, you know?

If you were writing the script,

what's the one scene we definitely have to include?

We would have a romance song,

but we're not in the same room.

You know, like I'm outside looking at the rain in the window

and you know, you're like driving in your car or something.

But we're singing about each other, of course, right?

To make it comedy,

I feel like we'd be wearing wigs or something.

That's hilarious.

The split screen musical number

and matching dramatic wigs is absolutely gold.

It's the perfect blend of romance and comedy, honestly.

We're making musical parodies together,

that's the scene that goes viral.

Does this mean we're more towards

a Spinal Tap meets The Notebook kinda vibe?

Maybe.

We can make it really serious at first,

so the audience thinks it's gonna be a true romance,

and then we throw 'em for a curve ball,

like Danny DeVito just appears and they're like,

what is he doing here?

I think that would be great.

But also the romance,

I feel like we should be like friends to lovers.

That friends to lovers arc is the ultimate slow burn.

It makes the payoff so much better

because the chemistry is already there.

I love the idea of tricking the audience.

We start with this moody cinematic tension.

So they think they're watching a prestige drama,

and then boom!

I love these creative juices we have flowing here.

Well, I am going to have to let you go,

but it was such a pleasure talking to you, Ethan.

I'm glad you really liked the the answers.

Alright, bye Ethan.

[Ethan] Talk soon.

Bye.

I could tell, I felt like he was a little nervous.

If anything, I think that the AI drove the conversation

a specific narrow pathway.

I really liked the ideas he had too,

how we would like sing,

and the La La Land was a great pitch.

I would've picked a different movie

if I was speaking from, you know, the dome,

in opposed to like, AI.

All right, let's see how Luke does.

Here we go, she is calling me now.

Hi. How are you?

I'm good.

I could tell you were a writer

from the little poem you wrote me.

Oh, well thank you.

I mean, I assume that's a compliment.

Yeah, no, no, it wasn't a fluke, Luke,

but I wanna hear more about you.

[Luke] Shoot.

I was just at sea for six months

cruising the Mediterranean and Caribbean.

Where would you take us on vacation for our first trip?

Honestly, Japan would be the number one spot.

It's one of the most expensive places to travel to,

but I also really love sushi.

And you know, you go during, I think it's in the spring,

they have the cherry blossoms all over the place

that are really cool.

Oh, that's a, I've always wanted to go to Japan, actually.

I do love sushi, and I heard it's beautiful there.

Well, sounds like a plan.

Where would you take me on a trip?

Let's see.

I feel like we could go to the Grand Canyon.

I feel like you would be someone

that would like something like low key in nature,

'cause you seem a little more quiet and reserved,

more opposite of me.

Oh, I see.

I do love warm weather, so Arizona sounds great.

Grand Canyon's in Arizona, right?

[Lexi] Have you ever been to Grand Canyon?

No, I never have,

but it'd be awesome if we made a road trip out of it.

I love, love driving.

You do?

I'm a terrible driver.

Oh, well then that'd be perfect.

You can do all the passengering,

and I'll do all the driving.

Oh, well, I'm the best passenger princess ever,

I'll have you know, so get excited.

Japan, Arizona, we're ready to go.

It was great talking with you Luke, and we'll talk soon.

I think AI got this in the bag.

I'm not gonna lie.

Unless she really likes the word, vibe,

then I think I won.

[Narrator] And now it's time for Lexi

to pick the guy she wants to date.

Ethan's a lot more like me.

Usually I do go for guys like Luke who are more quiet.

It's tough.

I don't know what they look like,

so I have to go based off of our texts, the letters.

Looking through everything,

I think I'm going to have to go with,

ah, I'm nervous.

My gut is telling me Ethan.

[Ethan] W.

Jeez, the robots are taking over, man.

One small step for Ethan, one large step for AI.

[Narrator] So Luke, got any advice for Ethan?

It's hard to say.

At the beginning of this experiment,

I would've said the best advice is to be yourself,

but that didn't really pan out here, so.

[Narrator] Okay, Lexi, time to meet Ethan.

How do you feel?

I feel confident in my decision, but I am nervous.

Just like when you're online dating,

meeting someone for the first time in person

is always a little nerve wracking.

I imagine drum roll in my head.

[drum rolling]

Hey!

[Ethan] Hello, hi.

Oh hi. Hug it up, hug it up.

You look nice. Thank you, you as well.

It's nice to meet you.

It's nice to meet you as well.

I was nervous to meet you in person.

I'm like, I'm not shy.

Okay, so you told me a little bit about yourself.

I did, but I have a confession.

Okay.

When you lie to people, when you first meet them,

inevitably you're gonna find out the truth.

If you use AI, you're pretending to sort of be something

or think something that you're not.

My responses, my answers to you were AI.

It was generated with a computer.

I can show you proof.

I wanna throw a fit, but I'm on camera.

You could scroll, honestly, just go for it.

Stop it.

Yeah, I'm sorry to deceive you like that.

Yeah, wow.

It's not in my true nature, you know?

This is the conversation, basically.

What?

Okay, were all the other boys here?

No, they all left.

I'm the only one here.

I don't wanna date a robot.

You recorded me saying things,

and then it picked up everything?

It picked up your audio through the phone via speaker.

I know you were assigned this.

I understand, I understand.

But I'm really upset with you.

[Producer] So is this a deal breaker, Lexi?

He just put in AI.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little mad, because I picked you.

You did pick me. And out of three other guys.

I'm like, where are they?

Three of us used AI. Really?

The person you picked between myself and him,

Luke? Yes, Luke.

Luke! He was real.

He wrote me a poem. He did write you a poem.

And he didn't even write that with AI.

Nope, it was all him.

And I made a joke that he wrote it with ChatGPT.

Okay also, were those things you said true in the letter,

like are you looking for someone who's actually present,

or are you looking for just like a fun fling?

Yes, I'm very present.

I like for the other person that I am involved with

to be present as well.

What would you do for our first date?

Where would you take me?

We get a picnic, go to Central Park.

Think we'd have a cooler, some ice.

Cooler, of course, blanket.

Mixers, blanket and speaker, yeah.

I like that.

Do you have any questions for me?

Let's see.

How many trust falls have you done in your lifetime?

Trust falls? Yes.

I really haven't done one.

Okay, you ready?

Let's do this. I'm nervous.

I'm still finding it hard to trust you, but I'm gonna try.

Let go, let go. Okay, ready?

Yes. [upbeat pop music]

There you go.

Ooh, very beautiful!

That was amazing. Yeah.

Oh, I felt so little.

Okay, I think I want to give Ethan a chance.

I like your energy, and we have a lot in common.

Aura.

I think you're cute.

It's a date. It's date.

It's a date, it's a date, it's a date.

It's a date.

[Narrator] Lexi and Ethan have not gone on a date yet.

However, Lexi and Luke have.

I guess humanity does have a chance after all.

[bright jingle]