She thought her Hinge match’s photo looked off. Then she realized why – USA Today

She thought her Hinge match’s photo looked off. Then she realized why  USA Today

A young woman was scrolling through Hinge when she noticed something appeared slightly off with Johnno, a young man she matched with. When she asked him if his photos were AI, he replied, "Hahaha appreciate it nah no AI here." But a reverse image search showed otherwise, revealing Johnno, or whoever was posing as him, had used AI to deepfake his face onto photos of other men from Pinterest. When the woman shared her experience in a TikTok that racked up 1.2 million views, something even weirder happened in the comment section. Women posted screenshots of profiles from Andy, Roger and Ben, each with different facial features and hair, but sporting the same flannel shirt and linen pants Johnno was wearing, against the same beachfront background.

"Me realizing the guy I was talking to was using AI pics from this post…," one user commented. "I came across a guy that did this too!! Every single photo came up on a photo search from Pinterest," one woman commented. "It's a breeding ground for catfish and it's just gonna get worse so buckle up," another user commented. These increasingly subtle, hard-to-detect modifications are an issue dating experts say is becoming more common as users navigate a barrage of artificial intelligence in the dating world, from AI-aided prompts and conversations to increasingly sophisticated