Online AI-powered Jewish speed-dating event hopes to draw 5,000 people
The event, held hours after Tu B’Av (the “Day of Love”) bills itself as the “biggest speed-dating event ever.”
(JNS) In the times of the Mishnah, unmarried Jewish women dressed in white and danced in the vineyards on Tu B’Av, the 15th of the month of Av (the “Day of Love”), and single men would follow them hoping to meet their brides. Single Jews can seek their matches this year on Tuesday—mere hours after the end of this minor holiday, which this year begins on Aug. 18 and ends on Aug. 19—with the help of artificial intelligence.
Ian Mark, founder and CEO of DateNight AI, expects some 5,000 Jews of all ages, religious observance levels and geographic locations to attend one of two online speed-dating sessions on Aug. 20. Nearly 30 Jewish organizations worldwide, including Nefesh B’Nefesh and the Australian Jewish Association, are co-hosting the event, in which participants will be algorithmically paired with seven potential matches for five minutes each over the course of an hour.
A New York City native who made aliyah nine years ago, Mark has worked as a day trader, in venture capital and at several startup companies. The idea of working on speed-dating events came to him in March 2020 during the COVID pandemic.
To help Jews meet one another amid quarantine, he and some friends created a Facebook group called “CoronaCrush-creating Jewish couples always.” The group’s page, which now has more than 26,000 members, states: “We know you’re not allowed to go outside, but that doesn’t mean your love life has to stop. Meet other singles in the same predicament as you.”
‘Skeptical but also hopeful’
Mark and his friends had dating events on Zoom in mind at first. When they advertised the first event, “1,000 people filled out forms within a few hours,” he told JNS. He explained that he and his friends matched people up manually at first and then built a platform “to make the tedious manual stuff easier.”
It was important to them that participants not have to pay, but in early 2024, participants noted that some 10% of those who registered didn’t show up in the end. That meant that many people who were supposed to have seven dates came up one short.
“People said, ‘We want you to charge to ensure people show up,’” Mark told JNS.
He still didn’t want to charge people, so he opted to have participants pay a refundable $18 deposit. “We keep the deposit for no-shows,” he said. As expenses mounted, participants were given the option to donate the $18. More than a quarter opt to do so, Mark said.
The overwhelming majority (99%) of the events in which CoronaCrush is involved are Jewish. The remainder is Christian, according to Mark, who notes that the system is now automated and easy for other organizations to implement.
Since DateNight AI launched, it has hosted more than 100,00 dates and made more than 20,000 matches, according to Mark. Last year, 3,000 people participated in the event, he said.
Mark, who is married, told JNS that he knows of 60 marriages that have come out of his dating events, although he suspects that there are many more about which he doesn’t know.
Amitai Zuckerman of San Diego and his wife, Julie, of Connecticut, met at a Jewish speed-dating event in March 2021. The two, both in their mid-30s, have been married for two years. “When I signed up for speed-dating, I was skeptical but also hopeful,” she told JNS. “One of the seven guys I was introduced to that night was Amitai.”
Jason Blau, 44, of Philadelphia, who is participating in the event, told JNS that “finding a true connection in the chaos of life is like finding light in the darkness.”
“My experience with CoronaCrush is that they bring that light into focus,” he said. PJC
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