Programmed Passion

WORDS by HOLLY COLEMAN

Desire, historically a private act of self-discovery, has been turned inside out in the digital age. What was once a matter of interpersonal exchange is now mediated, captured, and repackaged by algorithms, with digital platforms offering us the illusion of infinite choice. The current landscape of sexual identity and intimate preference no longer takes shape through organic experience, but through the machinery of data collection and commodification. From Bumble to Grindr, AI now shapes the ways we swipe, flirt, and fantasize. 

Image of a person discussing desire with a chat bot generated by dall-e 3 AI

The very structures of these apps, powered by machine learning, work to fine-tune suggestions based on a constant stream of personal data—our preferences, photos, likes, and even time spent lingering on particular profiles. But these algorithms, designed to predict what might spark our attraction, are trained on historical data sets riddled with social biases. This means that, even as AI claims to adapt to us, it’s often feeding us back the same stereotypes we’re already systemically steeped in—and the more we swipe, the more we conform to the patterns of selection encoded in these systems. This is to say, the app is not decoding your desires; it's feeding you a pre-made identity, one reinforced by centuries of colonization, gendered repression, and the commodification of bodies. Desire, in this context, is not discovered but sold.

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