Tinder Harnessing AI for More Features, Including Photo Selection

Dating app Tinder is testing an AI feature that will select the best profile photos for users, according to reports from parent company Match Group’s latest earnings call.

Tech Crunch noted that the AI feature will examine a Tinder member’s photo album and select five that “best represents them for their dating profile.” According to Match Group CEO Bernard Kim, choosing pictures is a stressful process for daters, and typically they have doubts about which ones they pick, what he labeled as a “pain point” on the earnings call.

“Sometimes, people are really excited to jump into the Tinder experience,” Kim said. He continued: “then in that exact moment where you upload five pictures, people get generally nervous or uncomfortable, like, ‘What is the right picture that I’ve taken over the last year to make my dating profile more me?’”

The company is building its new features around AI capabilities, and this technology will continue to be a central focus for the product teams. In fact, the company hinted at other new AI features being developed, including applying it to help users write their bios. According to Tech Crunch, in a letter to its shareholders, Match Group says it will use AI to “surface the right content to the right people to help improve relevancy.”

Daters are already using ChatGPT and other AI models to help them message matches and build profiles, so it makes sense that the dating apps would want to harness this technology inside of the app. Especially when, according to a survey Tinder conducted, about a third of its users said they would use generative AI to help them build a profile.

OkCupid has already tested ChatGPT-generated questions on its platform to see the response and will be moving forward with generative AI questions for users. Bumble currently uses AI to blur nude photos before a recipient sees them, and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said that AI might be used to simplify the profile-writing process on its app.

There has been a rush of new AI-based dating apps hitting the market as The Guardian points out, including Teaser AI which lets you chat with an AI version of someone before deciding whether or not to swipe right, and Blush where you can flirt with a chatbot as practice before flirting with a real-life human you might be interested in.

The use of AI will only grow and expand on dating platforms. According to Kim: “AI has really inspired our product people across the entire company to really think about ways that we can create new experiences.”