'They don't want to date': how AI will help Japanese people increase the birth rate

Japan will subsidize local governments to develop artificial intelligence technology for matching. Thus, the government is trying to overcome the demographic crisis. What is the difference between Japanese mobile dating applications and foreign ones, will AI help to increase the birth rate in the country, and how dating services can turn people into recluses - in the article. However, experts are not convinced that this method will help Japan increase its birth rate.

Technological matchmaking

Japan has decided to fund the development of artificial intelligence in the field of matching partners through mobile applications. According to the BBC, in this way, the country intends to raise the birth rate.

Japan is now experiencing a serious demographic crisis. Last year, the number of newborns in the country fell below 865 thousand. The rapidly aging nation has long been looking for ways to boost fertility, and now the government has decided to rely on high-tech advances.

So, from next year, Tokyo will subsidize local governments, as well as various projects that use AI to bring people together. The government plans to allocate 2 billion yen (about 1.5 billion rubles) for the implementation of this plan.

Various matchmaking services operate in nearly half of the country's 47 prefectures, and some of them have already begun to use artificial intelligence technology to improve the quality of user profile analysis. Some of the existing dating companies limit themselves to looking at criteria such as income and age and only give a result if there is an exact match.

The government hopes that funding dating services will help bring the technology to a new level and it will find a match for people, taking into account factors such as hobbies and life values.

“We plan to offer subsidies to those local governments that have already created or want to create projects using artificial intelligence. We hope that the funding will help stop and even reverse the decline in the birth rate in the country, ”said a representative of the Japanese government.

The authorities expect to use more expensive advanced systems that will take into account a number of personal qualities of a person, as well as various aspects of his social status, which in turn increases the likelihood of choosing an “ideal” partner, local media write.

Serious approach

One of the most widespread and famous dating apps in the world today is Tinder. In it, the user is given the opportunity to choose a partner they like from a list made up of candidates suitable for your needs. It should be noted that the selection criteria are minimal: gender, age, and distance between users.

On dating sites for Japanese people, you have to pay for each new message. It is noteworthy that on some services only a man pays for services, while registration is free for everyone. One such application, Pairs, requires identification in order to start a chat.

In addition, Japanese services differ from Tinder by the ability to specify a huge amount of information in the profile, which greatly simplifies the search for the "ideal" soul mate.

Latent danger

According to Chigadaev, the decline in the birth rate is a global trend that has affected almost all countries. Japan is one of the most highly developed post-industrial societies, which is why the problem of declining birth rates is so strongly visible there.

“Today there is no effective incentive to 'force' people to give birth more. Without appropriate social, religious, or political pressure in a democratic society, if a woman can not give birth, then she does not give birth ... It sounds very simple, but now people give birth to children only because they want children, ”the expert said.

When asked whether high-tech services will be able to influence the growth of the birth rate, the expert replied that most likely not.

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