Tinder Users Choosing AI to Message Matches

Singles on Tinder are turning to ChatGPT, a new app launched by OpenAI to create AI-designed messages.

Once Tinder users match with someone, many are turning to ChatGPT for an opening message based on their shared interests, according to Mashable. ChatGPT then generates an original opening message, which the user can copy and paste to get the conversation going. One longtime user said that he used ChatGPT to generate a poem for a woman he was messaging, which captured her attention when she admitted that nobody had ever written a poem for her before.

Singles on Tinder are revealing this new dating app strategy over TiKTok according to Mashable, and it’s working for them. The caption for the dater who used the poem to capture the attention of his date posted a video of his strategy, declaring the service to be the “future of Tinder.”

Another example from Mashable via TikTok was a dater who requested a fitness-based opener from ChatGPT after a workout enthusiast caught their eye on Tinder. ChatGPT responded with: “Do you mind if I take a seat? Because watching you do those hip thrusts is making my legs feel a little weak.” The match who received the message liked it enough to send the user her Snapchat handle.

While these types of one-liners and poems might seem a bit over-the-top, it’s preferable to many daters over the lackluster “what’s up?” openings that singles have been using for years. People were craving more creativity and expression, and the AI-based chat generator seems to be delivering.

AI-generated messages do pose a problem down the line, at least for users who aren’t disclosing that they are using ChatGPT. How would a recipient of a message feel if they knew the message they just received was generated by AI, and not by the person they matched with? What if the entire conversation on both sides is AI-generated, and neither user realizes they aren’t really messaging each other? It gets messy once you are engaged in conversation, especially if the end goal is to meet in real life.

As Mashable points out, there are many dating apps that offer users “prompts” which are AI-generated to help them message one another, but at least this offering is transparent and everyone is receiving the same guidance. The difference with a technology like ChatGPT is that it’s separate from the app, and therefore be easier to use without matches knowing, which some might regard as deceptive.

Still, it seems to be working for Tinder users, at least for now. And the fact that people are discussing it over TikTok means that daters are now going to be aware that messages might be generated from ChatGPT instead of their matches.