Gay Dating App Goose Accused Of Using AI Men To Lure Real Ones
Goose sold itself as the human answer to Grindr. Now the new gay dating app is accused of the opposite. A Wired investigation alleges Goose used AI-generated men to promote itself and pull real users in.
Goose launched in late June 2026 as an invite-only, “anti-algorithm” app for gay men. There is no swiping. Instead of matching, users “wave” at each other.
It was co-founded by Derek Chadwick, a model and actor with 1.7 million Instagram followers, and David Aliagas, a former growth manager at the app BeReal. The promise was hand-picked, real members and none of the hookup churn.
Wired identified more than two dozen Instagram accounts promoting Goose that appear to be AI-generated. Detection tools flagged photos from accounts such as @miles.sumrall and @danielmmulugeta with more than 90 per cent confidence as AI-made.
Reporters also found an account tied to Aliagas advertising paid “ambassador” roles and offering money for “finstas”, slang for fake Instagram profiles. Wired went so far as to call the campaign a “psyop”.
How The Accounts Allegedly Worked
These were not passive ads. Several gay men told Wired the accounts messaged them directly or added them to Close Friends stories, then steered them toward a “curated network” on Goose. One man, Ryan Cheam, said he thought he was chatting with “just a normal gay guy” before the account pushed the app.
Critics have called it catfishing at a corporate scale.
Is it even legal? Possibly not. Rob Freund, an advertising lawyer, told Wired that using AI personas to pose as real users is “very obviously unlawful” under United States Federal Trade Commission rules on deceptive advertising. That is a heavy charge for an app that built its brand on being real.
What Does Goose Say?
A Goose spokesperson defended the platform, saying the team “hand-picked every person who received an invite” and that Goose is “creating a place where real people can make real friends, dates, and community”.
The company said it works to keep fake profiles off the app. Before launch, Goose claimed 56,000 pre-downloads, a figure some analysts now question given the recruitment reports. Chadwick did not respond to Wired directly.
The timing is rough. Gay men have relied on these apps for connection and safety for years, and trust is the one thing an app cannot fake. Would you wave back at a platform accused of inventing its most attractive members?
