In the cutthroat world of online dating, men use AI to put their best face forward

Updated on: October 14, 2026 / 4:24 PM EDT / CBS News

Marissa, a 31-year-old Boston resident, downloaded dating apps because she is looking for love. But more and more, she finds herself looking for something else: AI-free photos.

The marketing professional said she routinely comes across dating app profiles that appear to be digitally altered. Usually, the changes are minor and can be easily made using tools like Photoshop, such as editing someone out of a photo. Sometimes, however, the photo appears to be completely AI-generated, she told CBS News, citing a photo she came across on Bumble of a man dressed in a suit tiling a bathroom wall.

"AI aside, I'm not sure what the appeal is there," she said (Marissa asked to withhold her surname for privacy reasons).

Numerous women on TikTok also report spotting photos of men on dating apps that appear to be AI-generated. Their accounts demonstrate how AI is blurring the line between what's real and what's fake in the already fraught arena of online dating. They also raise ethical questions about how far is too far when it comes to manipulating your online persona.

"People want authentic connections and conversations," Kathryn Coduto, an…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/moneywatch/