Bombay Durpun - Dating app Tinder dabbles with AI matchmaking

The iconic system of users "swiping" to show interest in Tinder profiles remains at the core of the service created in 2012, but AI promises a more personalized quest for romance, according to Tinder.

"We're using AI to surface more relevant connections, and continuing to raise the bar on safety so that people feel confident taking the next step," Spencer Rascoff, chief executive of Tinder and its parent Match Group, said in a statement announcing a slew of changes to the platform.

Tinder said AI enabled the app to "get a better sense of your personality; your vibe, and what really matters to you."

The tool will learn about users from information in their accounts, and Tinder plans to eventually let people augment that by answering questionnaires and providing access to photo archives, according to the company.

Chemistry is among new features designed to help Tinder users spend less time in the app and more time connecting in real life, according to senior vice president of product Hillary Paine.

"What you are going to see is more of an evolution that is mirroring what modern, young daters are looking for," Paine told AFP.

A music mode lets people give greater weight to musical tastes while seeking promising profiles, while a new astrology mode makes star signs a factor in the mix.

Tinder is also testing in-person events where subscribers in its home city of Los Angeles can meet, along with virtual video speed dating sessions, according to Paine.

"We're hearing and we're seeing that Gen Z-plus wants to be social," Paine said of those born in the Internet Age.

"We're trying to get them off the couch, out of their apartments and into the real world."

Tinder is also using AI to detect potentially inappropriate messages and to scan faces to check they are actual people.

A survey published by Forbes magazine last year found that 78 percent of users expressed feeling emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted from using online dating platforms.

"With more than half our users under 30, we're building alongside a generation that wants dating to feel more authentic, lower-pressure, and worth their time," Rascoff said.

D.Jayaraman--BD