To give notorious singles on Tinder more chances for a date, the app digs deep into its AI bag of tricks.
Tinder was once synonymous with quick matches. Within a few years it revolutionized the love lives of sexually mature city dwellers considerably. With positive and negative consequences. But now they are fighting against falling subscription numbers and are testing a radical AI function that examines personal photos in order to “get to know” users even better.
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The Match Groupoperator of the globally popular app, announced on Tuesday (November 5th) when presenting its quarterly figures that Tinder is currently trying out the “Chemistry” function. It is intended to accompany users through interactive questions and – with their consent – access photos in the camera roll to make hobbies, interests and personality visible.
The aim is to be able to suggest more suitable partners. Users who are frustrated with Tinder dating often don’t return or don’t feel like using the paid version.
The AI test is already underway in New Zealand and Australia. Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Match Group, announced that Chemistry will be a central pillar of the Tinder experience in the coming year.
Tinder wants to do better than Facebook
Similar experiments are already being carried out by other tech companies: Meta, for example, recently asked Facebook users for permission to evaluate private photos for AI-based editing suggestions. With both providers, however, the direct benefits for users are rather limited. On Tinder, for example, the AI is supposed to recognize that users who post photos while hiking or climbing may be better suited to like-minded people.
But AI is also intended to make Tinder “more pleasant” in another area. An LLM-based system warns users of potentially offensive messages and helps choose the best profile pictures. Other features include dating modes, double dates, facial verification and revised profiles that prominently integrate biographical information into the photo carousel.
It remains to be seen whether all of this will have any effect, as young people are increasingly turning away from online dating and are looking for real encounters again. The general increase in the cost of living is also a factor. In the third quarter, paying users fell by seven percent and revenue fell by three percent year-on-year.
Tinder is now faced with a balancing act: Can AI revive the flirting empire or are users turning away even more because of the excesses of artificial intelligence?