Artificial Intelligence (AI)

A New York City task force on cyber sexual assault has discovered more than 70,000 photos of Tinder users on an online cyber-crime forum. Aaron DeVera, a member of the task force, told reporters that the images were found on a site known for trading in malicious software and that only female users appear to have been targeted.

Gizomodo was the first outlet to share the news. According to the original report, the photos were accompanied by a text file containing around 16,000 unique Tinder user IDs. Items found in the photos, like the iPhone X, and metadata indicate that many of the pictures are relatively current — some, in fact, have timestamps dated as recent as October 2019. The availability of this information to cybercriminals raises serious concerns about why it was collected and what it could be used for.

It seems like almost every Tinder user has a horror story. For some, it’s a first date that looks nothing like their photos. For others, it’s being ghosted after weeks of messaging back and forth. And for many, it’s connections that end in harrassment, discrimination, insults, unwanted sexual advances and other ills that online dating has become notorious for.

Tinder is hoping to curb behavior that violates its community standards with a recent update. The company announced in a blog post that it will now use artificial intelligence to detect offensive messages before they reach their intended recipients. The feature, called Does This Bother You?, is powered by machine learning and aided by human members of the Tinder community. Similar technology also plays a role in Undo, an upcoming feature that will allow Tinder members to take back a message containing potentially offensive language before it’s sent.

Say Allo, a smart dating app that debuted in the United States in 2018, is making its way into the Canadian market. The “relationship discovery” platform harnesses the power of artificial intelligence and a continuous learning algorithm to help singles foster meaningful connections for long-term relationships. The app is now available in Montreal.

Say Allo relies on proprietary SmartSwipe™ technology. By combining AI and face-mapping technologies, SmartSwipe™ learns about your behaviors, interests, preferences. The more time you spend on the app, the more useful knowledge it gleans. SmartSwipe™ is so advanced it can even detect the facial features you prefer in a partner.

Russia’s largest social media platform VKontakte is going head-to-head with Tinder and Badoo by launching its own dating app.

According to The Moscow Times, VKontakte’s Lovina is a video-centric dating app, offering a video chat option to people who like each other over the app and a “carousel” of short videos for a quick communication between random users who are browsing through the app. Executives behind Lovina say that providing video as the main way for users to connect is a better method than what traditional dating apps like Tinder offer, because video is much more revealing than photos or a written profile. Plus, there’s less chance of someone faking a video compared to photos.

Hily Dating App

Hily is a relatively new dating app that is just 2 years old. Hily stands for "Hey, I Like You" and has gathered over 5 million members since launch and is now a top 10 revenue generating dating app in the app stores (iOS and Android). When Hily launched they touted their artificial intelligence (AI) which is designed to help stop scammers and fake profiles being created. Hily also has AI which is used for matching members together. The more you use their app the better the matching will be as Hily will learn what type of profiles you like based on who you view and like. Working on our review we found Hily is geared more to younger adults and has a similar swipe mechanics of liking or passing on matches as other competing dating apps.

Hily is one of the few dating apps doing well that is not owned by a larger online dating company that has multiple brands. Alex Pasykov, and Yan Pronin are the founders and Hily's headquarters is in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For complete details on this dating service including a list of features, pros, and cons of the service, you can read our new Hily review.

Image: Bumble

Starting in June, artificial intelligence will shield Bumble users from unsolicited lewd photographs sent through the app’s messaging tool. The AI feature - which has been dubbed Private Detector, as in “private parts” - will automatically blur explicit photos shared within a chat and warn the user that they’ve received an obscene image. The user can then decide if they want to view the image or block it, and if they’d like to report it to Bumble’s moderators.

“With our revolutionary AI, we are able to detect potentially inappropriate content and warn you about the image before you open it,” says a screenshot of the new feature. “We are committed to keeping you protected from unsolicited photos or offensive behavior so you can have a safe experience meeting new people on Bumble.”