Japan Embraces AI Matchmaking

Last week, the Japanese government said it would invest in AI matchmaking for single citizens.

Why? Tokyo isn’t creating a new Tinder for the thrill of it. It wants to reverse Japan’s flagging birth rate, which hit a record low in 2019.

Many local governments offer matchmaking services. Japan will subsidize those that incorporate machine learning into the mix. The hope is that these data-intensive methods will produce better pairings.

AI dating services may sound like sci-fi to you—like Her meets Brave New World. But check out the above graph. As more singles turn to dating apps, algorithms are already playing a bigger role in romance.

Zoom out: Japan’s population is projected to fall from a peak of 128 million in 2017 to under 53 million by 2100. The government is heavily investing in automation as a hedge against its rapidly shrinking workforce.