OVER the last decade, dating apps have peaked in popularity – with one in five Americans now meeting their spouses online.
But it’s a looks-based model, meaning many fall at the first hurdle and don’t get anyone swiping right.
With that in mind, I offered myself up for public scrutiny, and let a group of men I’d never met review my dating profile photos – to tell me where I was going wrong.
Throughout my time at The U.S. Sun, I’ve shared multiple excerpts about my personal life.
To this day, I, a 28-year-old female, am on a continuous journey to find love.
Over the last year, I’ve let ChatGPT write my Hinge dating profile prompts, had a website rate my hotness, and now I’m using a matchmaker.
Keeper AI is a new matchmaking service that combines both artificial intelligence and a certified matchmaker to find the best possible match.
Keeper also lets you crowdsource feedback on your photos and profile, from people who fit the category you crave in a romantic partner.
I sent ten photos of myself in various situations, backgrounds, and surroundings.
From red-carpet events to fun moments with friends and even selfies with sandwiches, I attempted to give an array of images that showcased different parts of my personality.
According to an email, they sent my photos out to a “non-biased, third party to provide multi-dimensional ranking and feedback” on my images.
Almost three weeks later, I received the results of the case study around my choices for my matchmaking profile.
The results were humorous, shocking, blunt, and a bit unexpected.
I received 30 images in a zip file attached with screengrabs of feedback from the 10 images, which included charts, data, and notes.
I felt like I was part of an in-depth social experiment.
According to the matchmaker, the reviews came from men aged 28 to 44 years old, who were my ideal “type” for a partner.
For each of the ten photos I submitted, I received three different documents containing data and anonymous notes.
The first contained an overall score concerning whether I was perceived as smart, trustworthy, and attractive on a scale of one to ten.
Apparently, I ranked in the top five percent of the “Attractiveness” scale with a score of 9.5 because of a photo of myself dressed up in a sparkly dress and sitting down at dinner with a glass of wine.
However, the men also left notes, and some of these were less complimentary.
“Photo seems a bit artificial to me,” one wrote under a snap of me in a sombrero.
I’d chosen another picture of myself dressed up in a pink dress, where I’d put effort into my makeup and was wearing hoop earrings.
I thought I looked nice.
But one of my pollsters said I looked “uncomfortable,” while another said I was “timid” and a third “sad.”
Another simply said: “Would prefer a different expression.”
In my next photo, a stranger critiqued my apartment, writing: “Would prefer a less distracting background.”
The photo was from a previous Kylie Jenner story, and in it, I held a sandwich up to the camera.
“Without burger would have been better,” one of the men quipped.
But another man commented: “Offering food creates trust. Also a great smile!”
I received a long-winded response to another photo of me at an event for work, where I am shown from the waist up in a green shirt and smiling.
They wrote: “Not sure if this photo is real. The person depicted is smoking hot and fairly dressed up.
“Could see this on a magazine cover. Could also see it being real. Some people are really hot and take good photos.”
Their words felt like a backhanded compliment, instead of positive feedback.
I didn’t know how to take them because I admit that some of the photos were professionally taken, but none of them were edited.
It felt weird having a group of strangers make judgments without knowing me.
A common theme among many of the anonymous responses was people didn’t think the person in the image was me or that they seemed artificial.
Others were more positive, simply writing: “Great Smile!” and “I would date them!”
Based on the male feedback, they chose the photos that performed the best to add to my Keeper matchmaking profile.
“With the knowledge you obtain from the feedback received, you now have the opportunity to send or take more photos that are reflective of the highest ranked,” my matchmaker wrote in an email.
As I continue on in my journey to find the love of my life, Keeper AI will soon start setting me up on dates with prospective matches.
Once I’ve gone on a few dates from Keeper, I have the option to receive any constructive feedback that my past dates have given anonymously.
There’s a common saying: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
I’m not sure what was worse in this scenario: being judged by people I don’t know or people who I do.
We’ll have to wait and see if Keeper helps me meet my perfect match.
