Can AI Help You Choose the Right Partner or Widen the Disconnect?
Image Credit: Alexander Sinn | Splash
Match Group, the company behind leading dating platforms like Tinder and Hinge, has announced plans to expand its use of artificial intelligence, with new features expected to launch this month. These AI tools will assist users in selecting profile photos, composing messages and offering guidance to those finding it difficult to engage on the apps. While intended to enhance user experience, this development has sparked a debate among experts about its potential to undermine the authenticity of online dating and intensify existing social challenges.
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AI Tools Enter the Dating Scene
The incorporation of AI into dating apps aims to address common user complaints, such as exhaustion from managing profiles and arranging dates. Supporters suggest these tools—sometimes referred to as "dating wingmen"—could simplify the process and improve outcomes. One example is Aleksandr Zhadan, a product manager who last year used ChatGPT to interact with over 5,000 women on Tinder on his behalf, eventually meeting his fiancée through the experiment. Match Group has stressed its focus on responsible implementation, with a spokesperson stating,
“Our teams are dedicated to designing AI experiences that respect user trust and align with Match Group’s mission to drive meaningful connections ethically, inclusively and efficiently”.
Bumble, another prominent dating platform, also sees potential in AI to improve safety and help users present themselves more effectively online. A Bumble spokesperson explained,
“Our goal with AI is not to replace love or dating with technology, it’s to make human connection better, more compatible, and safer”.
With 4.9 million users in the UK and at least 60.5 million in the U.S.—most aged 18-34—these features could offer relief to a demographic often overwhelmed by the demands of digital dating.
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Potential Risks to Social Skills and Trust
Not all reactions have been positive. A group of academics, led by Dr. Luke Brunning, a lecturer in applied ethics at the University of Leeds, has expressed concern through an open letter signed by scholars from the U.K., U.S., Canada and Europe. They argue that relying on AI to navigate romantic interactions could harm users’ real-world social abilities, worsen loneliness and deepen the youth mental health crisis. The letter suggests that individuals who depend on AI for conversations might struggle in person, potentially increasing anxiety and reinforcing reliance on digital tools.
This shift could also affect trust on dating platforms, as users may question whether they’re interacting with a real person or an AI-crafted profile. “Many of these companies have correctly identified these social problems”, Brunning noted, “but they’re reaching for technology as a way of solving them, rather than trying to do things that really de-escalate the competitiveness”. The academics warn that AI could amplify existing issues, such as algorithmic biases around race and disability, standardize profiles further, and make deception easier, all of which might complicate an already challenging environment for singles.
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Push for Regulatory Scrutiny
Brunning and his co-signatories are not against dating apps but contend that the current approach benefits companies more than users. They highlight a lack of regulatory attention on the dating sector compared to social media, despite its significant influence on personal relationships. “In many respects, [dating apps] are very similar to social media,” Brunning said. “In many other respects, they’re explicitly targeting our most intimate emotions, our strongest romantic desires. They should be drawing the attention of regulators”.
In the U.K., the forthcoming Online Safety Act, administered by Ofcom, may provide some oversight. An Ofcom spokesperson stated,
“When in force, the UK’s Online Safety Act will put new duties on platforms to protect their users from illegal content and activity. We’ve been clear on how the Act applies to GenAI, and we’ve set out what platforms can do to safeguard their users from harm it poses by testing AI models for vulnerabilities”.
However, it’s unclear whether this legislation will fully address the ethical concerns specific to dating app AI.
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Source: The Guardian
