This Date is Being Recorded. AI Will Grade It Later.

First dates are awkward enough when only two people are involved.

Now there may be a third person at the table.

Artificial intelligence.

According to The Wall Street Journal, startup founder Emmie Chang records most of her first dates using the transcription app Granola. When the date ends, she sends the transcript to Claude and asks how she performed.

Was she engaging enough? Did she show empathy? What percentage of the conversation did she spend talking?

Let’s stop there.

If we think people will use AI recorders only to evaluate themselves, we’re kidding ourselves. Once a transcript exists, the obvious temptation is to have AI evaluate not just themselves, but the person across the table.

How intelligent is he? Is she a narcissist? Did they show any red flags? Are we a good match?

Your date may not merely be deciding whether he or she likes you. You may be unknowingly generating data for a performance review, as if we need more of those.

AI transcription tools began as workplace products. They record meetings, create summaries and produce lists of action items. Predictably, they have now escaped the workplace.

People are using phones, pins, bracelets and other devices to record conversations at conferences, bars and even dates—usually without asking permission.

The appeal is obvious. You no longer have to take notes or rely on memory. Every detail can be saved, searched and analyzed later.

But a date isn’t a quarterly sales meeting. Or at least it shouldn't be.

Once every sentence can be replayed and graded, the conversation changes. Flirting becomes a focus group. Or an attempt at humor becomes part of the permanent record. Instead of getting to know someone, you’re completing an assessment without knowing you enrolled.

The most unsettling part isn’t that the technology exists. It’s how quickly some people have decided that permission is unnecessary. Privacy is no longer the default. That's our new world. It’s something you must request—and hope the other person honors.

Soon AI won’t merely tell someone how the date went.

It may decide whether there should be a second one.

And at that point, who exactly went on the date?