I’m Paula Santolaya, reporting live from SANTOLIVE in my virtual reality. Have opinions, or suggestions? Post them in the comments section down below or email me at info@santolive.com.

Sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs to find a prince, but Japan seems to have found the solution. The Japanese government has devised a plan to boost its worryingly low birth rate. In 2020, Japan’s fertility rate was one of the lowest in the world and Its population is expected to decline dramatically in the coming years. In 1950, only 1% of Japanese men declared themselves single, however, the current percentage is very different since 47% of men and 34% of women, between 30 and 34 years old, do not have a partner or have no interest of it.

Tax incentives and birth rate plans are of no use to alleviate the significant decline in marriages. For this reason, the Japanese government has turned to Artificial Intelligence as one of its last options, since it considers that current dating platforms do not meet the expectations of finding a long- term relationship. To this end, the Cabinet Office of Japan has requested the approval of a budget of two billion yen (about 19 million dolars) for the creation of a dating program, based on AI, which will be released this spring.

The project to find lonely hearts is based on a database enriched with the preferences that users have previously filled in, such as age, salary, level of education, and so. artificial intelligence is in charge of looking for the maximum compatibility between the candidates to be able to match them. The Cabinet Office is willing to help young Japanese people stop kissing toads and be seduced by algorithms.