San Francisco’s artificial intelligence boom is changing how some young technology workers approach dating. Startup founders and engineers say they are going out less as they devote more time to developing products and building their fortunes. When they do meet someone, the experience can feel less like a casual date and more like a high-stakes interview.
Mehul Agarwal, the 24-year-old co-founder of the AI startup Koyal, wants to find a wife before becoming wealthy. He said he would prefer to know that a partner is attracted to him rather than to his future success.
Mr. Agarwal said he has strict expectations for a potential partner. She should be intelligent, beautiful, kind and have a strong personality, he said, adding that someone who attended Stanford or M.I.T. would be especially appealing. He also wants someone who returns his interest.
Mr. Agarwal moved to San Francisco a year ago after his AI filmmaking company, which has raised $3.4 million, joined the Y Combinator startup accelerator. He has been on only a handful of dates this year. One date took two months to arrange, and both he and the woman he met were exhausted by their jobs at AI startups. Their familiarity with professional conversation made the evening feel more like a networking meeting than a romantic encounter.
Mr. Agarwal, who has never had a girlfriend, said he has told his parents that if he has not found a partner by age 28, he would consider an arranged marriage.
Sources: The New York Times Technology.