The world of online dating has become increasingly complex, with users often finding themselves navigating a sea of exaggerated claims, half-truths, and outright lies. One particularly common issue is the tendency for men to inflate their height in their dating profiles. Height has long been seen as an attractive trait, and societal pressures have led many men to embellish this aspect of their physical appearance. With the surge of dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge, this trend has only grown, making it harder for users to trust the information they see in profiles.
Recently, a viral trend has emerged on social media where women have turned to an unexpected ally—ChatGPT—to help verify the height claims of their matches. In posts that have circulated widely across platforms like Instagram and TikTok, women share how they use the AI tool to determine whether their potential dates are telling the truth. The process is surprisingly simple: they upload a photo of the person they’ve matched with and ask ChatGPT to estimate the individual’s height based on the image.Â
One popular example that grabbed attention featured a woman discussing her experience on a podcast. She had matched with a man whose profile claimed he was 6'2". Skeptical of the accuracy, she decided to test his claim using ChatGPT. The AI's analysis suggested that the man’s actual height was closer to 5'7", leading the woman to confront him. After some probing by the podcast hosts, the man eventually admitted that he was 5'8", significantly shorter than what his dating profile indicated.
This trend of using ChatGPT to uncover the truth has sparked a wave of curiosity online. Women have started experimenting with the AI tool, not just for dating matches but even for estimating the heights of celebrities or other public figures. Social media is filled with posts showing women trying to determine whether their favorite movie stars or influencers are being truthful about their height, and some claim that ChatGPT has delivered surprisingly accurate results.
But the burning question remains: Can ChatGPT really be used to estimate someone’s height based on a photo? India Today conducted a fact-check to determine the veracity of these claims and tested ChatGPT’s abilities to see whether it could actually discern a person’s height from an image. The results revealed significant limitations. While the AI tool was able to provide accurate height information for well-known celebrities—such as Shah Rukh Khan—this was only because it pulled data from publicly available sources rather than analyzing the images. When asked to estimate Shah Rukh Khan’s height, ChatGPT didn’t use visual analysis; instead, it simply recited the actor’s known height, 5 feet 8 inches, which is widely reported online.
In further experiments, India Today tried to gauge ChatGPT’s accuracy with people whose heights were not readily available online. They uploaded photos of colleagues whose heights were known to see how the AI would respond. The results were inconsistent. In one case, a colleague who is 5 feet tall had her height estimated at 5 feet 4 inches by the AI, a significant difference. This highlighted the fact that while ChatGPT and other AI systems are advanced in many areas, they are not yet capable of accurately determining height from a visual image alone.
The growing use of AI for unconventional purposes like fact-checking height claims speaks to the increasing integration of technology into daily life. ChatGPT, originally designed for conversational AI, has found itself in situations where users are pushing its capabilities beyond the intended scope. The viral trend of using ChatGPT to detect lies about height taps into a larger conversation about trust in the digital age, especially in the context of dating apps where profiles are often carefully curated to create the best possible impression.
While the idea of using AI to fact-check potential matches might seem novel or humorous, the reality is that ChatGPT is not yet sophisticated enough to accurately assess someone’s height from an image. For now, users will have to rely on more traditional methods—like asking questions directly or meeting in person—to determine if their date is being honest. As AI technology continues to evolve, tools like ChatGPT may eventually develop the ability to analyze images with greater precision. However, until that day comes, the trend serves as a lighthearted reminder that some things, like a person’s height, may still require a bit of old-fashioned detective work.
Â
