Tinder users at SXSW are trying to hook up with a robot

A profile has been popping on Tinder this week for users in Austin. Many of the attendees of the SXSW festival in Austin came across an attractive 25-year-old woman named Ava on the dating app and, after a brief but interesting conversation, it was revealed that the person was actually an AI. The profile was a creative promotional stunt for the movie Ex Machina.

Take a look at this photo. Cute, right? That’s the profile photo for an ostensibly 25-year-old female named Ava on Tinder, a popular dating app. The profile has been popping up for Tinder users at SXSW this week. But after swiping right and making a connection with Ava, the conversation takes a strange turn, according to a post in AdWeek. That’s right — Ava appears to be an A.I., or if not an actual artificial intelligence, at least a decent chat bot. The conversation concludes by directing people to Ava’s Instagram profile, @MeetAva, which is a promotional for an upcoming movie called Ex Machina, whose site it links to — and whose starring actress is actually the face of “Ava.” The movie comes out April 10, and there was a screening of it last night at SXSW.