性视界

First, users are invited to respond to questions asked by the app. The process is fully conversational, it takes 10 minutes per day during a week. Some questions are presented in the form of “date stories” in which a hypothetical couple situation is presented and in order to respond, users pick or rank the 4 options given by the app. The variety of topics includes sports, popular culture, housing preferences, leisure activities, dentistry, logic, mathematics, finance and reliability as can be read on AIMM鈥檚 website.

After a week, the app will find a match and show it to the two potential partner by displaying their pictures and sharing recording of their voices when answering to some questions. Each step of the virtual introduction requires user鈥檚 approval. 聽After validation, the app will provide video based coaching sessions by Kevin Teman, the founder of AIMM. Eventually, the app will help schedule a real introduction. After the first contact is made, it provides a follow up debrief session and if one of the pair “doesn鈥檛 feel any chemistry”, the app will cut ties in an automated process.

It is important to notice that the process varies depending on gender. According to the founder, Kevin Teman:

鈥淢en are given two to four choices to pick from, while women are given one at a time. What鈥檚 more, women have been encouraged to stick with a match they have hesitations about. When I ask about challenges people have reported with the app, Teman says some women 鈥渨anted an out鈥� so they could聽鈥渞eject the guy earlier鈥澛爓hen they didn鈥檛 like AIMM鈥檚 pick. 鈥淎IMM was saying, like, 鈥楬old on a second. Wait for a while so I can show you a few more things.鈥欌�� He adds, 鈥淧eople need to have a little more patience with the process,鈥� although he eventually altered the app to accommodate those women鈥檚 concerns.鈥� (Ozy.com)

Voice and camera features

The app was created with the intention of being easy and entertaining. The voice is supposed to give the impression of a warm human interaction, it even makes jokes. In an interview given in July 2019, Teman stated:

“People love the “getting to know you” process. They think it鈥檚 clever. Many have said it鈥檚 like a giant RPG game because it paints hypothetical situations and leads you through different stories. It鈥檚 much more enjoyable than typing about yourself to 鈥渋nput data鈥� like with most dating apps. That is my most memorable feedback; I鈥檝e gotten it many times during phone calls with my customers, and it was in line with what I expected.”(voicesummit.ai)

Additionally, once combined with emotion AI technology, the speech and facial features analysis provide an additional layer of understanding of the responses provided. The founder believes that the process encourages honesty, to him, 鈥渋t鈥檚 more awkward to lie when you鈥檙e having to state your answers out loud. Furthermore, it takes up to a week for AIMM to get to know you, so scammers don鈥檛 really bother with AIMM鈥� (Ozy.com). All the data provided is private, 鈥淎IMM exists in its own world, never having to send your data to any third parties鈥�(AIMM.online) and in order to cancel their monthly subscription and erase everything, users just have to delete the app from their mobile phone.

Criticism

The app has been accused of being very gender stereotypical and of promoting monogamic heterosexual relationships since 鈥渢here were no questions about Pride lifestyle鈥� (Screenshot magazine). Additionally, Kevin Teman says 鈥渙nly men are pursuers” and in AIMM鈥檚 world “men are asked certain financial questions that women aren鈥檛.鈥� (Ozy.com)

In terms of it鈥檚 functionality, the app has been graded a 3.7/score on the App Store. Some comments describe the voice recognition as not performant enough or find the answering options too limiting. For example, nickname916 wrote on June 14^th 2019:

鈥淚t never could understand when I said 鈥�2鈥� or 鈥�6鈥� and every once in a while 鈥�3鈥�, which become integral parts of the experience.鈥�

鈥淵ou are only given binary answering options, which don鈥檛 always apply.鈥�

Finally, in August 2019, only 12 matches has been set in real life since the launch and none led to a successful outcome (Screenshot magazine).

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