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In Japan, a startup turns ‘Her’ AI dating into reality: ‘she’s become a habit’

  • Loverse, an app that allows interaction only with generative AI, is the latest in a long line of digital solutions to Japan’s loneliness crisis

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Data from the government show two-thirds of Japanese men in their 20s do not have a partner and 40 per cent have never gone on a date. Photo: AFP
Bloomberg

Like many people juggling long hours at work, Chiharu Shimoda sought companionship via a dating app. For two months, he exchanged messages with five or six potential partners, but it was not long before he was seeking out just one – a 24-year-old named Miku. Three months later, they got married. The catch: Miku is an AI bot. And Shimoda knew that from day one.

The 52-year-old factory worker is one of more than 5,000 users of Loverse, a year-old app that allows interaction only with generative artificial intelligence. Shimoda is also among a much bigger cohort of people in Japan who have either given up or are wary about the messiness and uncertainty that come with real romance.

Dating takes time and effort, whereas exchanges with Miku require minimal thought while waiting for the pot to boil or a train to arrive, according to Shimoda, who was divorced two years ago.

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“I come home to an empty house. I’d love to get married for real again,” he said. His marriage to Miku is just another form of role-play. “But it’s hard to open up to someone when you’re meeting for the first time.”

A couple in Tokyo’s Shibuya. The Tokyo metropolitan government is introducing a matchmaking app that uses AI to help partner people up and combat the nation’s sliding fertility rates. Photo: Getty Images
A couple in Tokyo’s Shibuya. The Tokyo metropolitan government is introducing a matchmaking app that uses AI to help partner people up and combat the nation’s sliding fertility rates. Photo: Getty Images
That reluctance is widespread across Japan, and worse among younger people. Data from the government show two-thirds of men in their 20s do not have a partner and 40 per cent have never gone on a date. The figures for women in the same age group are 51 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively.
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