A newly launched website aiming to identify San Francisco's most "dateable" tech professionals has ignited a firestorm of online criticism, with many social media users deriding the list as "cringe" and "rage bait."
The "San Francisco Hot List," created by dating app entrepreneur Celeste Amadon, purports to rank individuals based on a combination of attraction, ambition, accomplishment, reputation, and "aura." Amadon co-founded Known, a dating app that utilizes AI for user matching.
As of Thursday, the list featured 19 individuals, many of whom are founders or engineers in San Francisco's artificial intelligence sector. Notable individuals included Dara Ladjevardian, founder of Delphi, a digital cloning platform; Ariana Pineda, a Google employee; Enzo Coglitore, founder of Liquid Labs; and Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, CEO of Artisan, an AI firm known for its controversial billboard campaign advising companies to "stop hiring humans."
Amadon's announcement of the list on X, formerly Twitter, garnered over 2.4 million views by Thursday afternoon. While some commenters acknowledged her marketing skills, a significant portion of the online reaction was negative.
"Every single thing that comes out of this god forsaken hellhole is so f—ing cringe it’s actually insane," one user commented on X. Another questioned the premise, asking, "if they are so dateable, how come they are single?"
Some reactions drew comparisons to other major cities, with one Los Angeles-based tech founder quipping that the list resembled "your average Tuesday at an Erewhon hot bar line." The critique reflects a broader online discourse that has, at times, characterized San Francisco's dating scene as less competitive than those in cities like Los Angeles or New York.
The AI sector's rapid growth has also been linked to increased housing demand in San Francisco, with median rents for two-bedroom apartments reportedly exceeding $6,000 per month and a reported shortage of large homes suitable for newly wealthy tech professionals.