Artificial Intelligence (AI)

With 2018 in the rearview mirror, dating experts are sharing their predictions for the year that lies ahead. What trends can singles look forward to? How will the online dating industry progress in 2019? Here’s what experts think the new year has in store.

Singles Will Embrace ‘Old-Fashioned’ Dating

Dating is headed back to basics says emotional wellness expert Dr. Natasha Sharma. “People are ready to start ditching the shallow, so-many-choices approach to dating, and move back to more ‘older-fashioned’ ways and alternative ways of meeting people,” she told Global News.

Data from Zoosk backs up Sharma’s prediction. A survey found that online daters were considered more old-fashioned in 2018, and that users who described themselves as old-fashioned in their profiles received 16 percent more messages than those who didn’t. The survey also found a majority of singles still consider holding a door open for someone and paying for the first date to be romantic gestures.

Chinese Tinder clone Tantan is embracing the future with open arms.

Like several of its colleagues in the United States -- including Match, Happn, and Hinge -- Tantan is experimenting with artificial intelligence as a tool for modern matchmaking. Chief Executive Yu Wang announced earlier this month at RISE Hong Kong that AI is a primary focus for the company in the second half of 2018, and that he hopes it will be a key driver of growth going forward.

The technology will be used to improve the accuracy of user acquisition and advertising, as well as to boost growth in user numbers and revenues more generally.

Following a successful launch on Facebook Messenger last year, Match is bringing its dating chatbot Lara to Google Assistant.

The AI matchmaker uses contextual understanding and speech recognition to provide advice and guidance for dating in the digital age. Lara first launched in France in 2016, then rolled out to users in the UK in 2017.

Match's vice-president of Northern Europe, Abbie Oguntade, spoke to The Drum earlier this year about the bot’s success and future trajectory. Lara has driven a 30% increase in visitors to Match’s landing page in Europe, she said, and subscriptions have “heavily improved” as a result. A team of around 15 engineers and tech experts are working out of Match’s innovation hub to improve the assistant’s AI features.

Online dating algorithms have gotten a lot of attention (and criticism) because they’re the basis of how matchmaking works. Many dating apps are secretive about their matching process, but traditionally, algorithms match people on the basis of profile information, questionnaires, and user preferences.

But according to a recent article by Gizmodo, online dating companies can collect more information about their customers through analyzing user behavior, which includes what users do on social media as well as on the dating app. Companies are now starting to use this behavioral data for matchmaking purposes rather than relying on profiles and user preferences.

eHarmony, Match and OkCupid are known for their long surveys and profile questions, which they maintain helps them more accurately assess potential matches. But dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and LoveFlutter prefer mining users’ social media streams, bypassing questions and looking to online behavior.

The San Francisco Bay Area lives and breathes tech. As home to the iconic companies of Silicon Valley, and a mind-blowing number of plucky startups, there are few places in the world with a more unabashed love of all things that come with the digital age.

Naturally, that extends to dating. Countless dating apps and websites call the region home, helping its tech-savvy and time-strapped residents find love despite their busy lives. The latest to join their company is Belong, a smart dating app that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to curate personalised matches and social experiences for accomplished singles.

Belong makes the bold promise that it’s “reinventing the modern dating experience.” The app becomes smarter the more you use it, allowing the machine learning mechanism to provide hyper-targeted matches and date suggestions designed just for you.

Online dating is one of the most popular ways to meet people, thanks to free apps and services like Plenty of Fish and Tinder. But many daters opt to be more particular in their search, and are willing to pay for a more curated experience, whether it’s online dating, matchmaking, or even “casual dating” services, like escorts.

According to a new study done by Statista for the Digital Market Outlook (DMO), the United States has the largest share of adults worldwide who are actively paying for a dating service. More than a quarter – 26 percent - of daters in the U.S. are paying for dating services, followed by the UK at almost 21 percent and Germany with 17 percent.

Daters in France, China and Saudi Arabia were the least likely to pay for a dating service according to the study, with 13%, 11% and 5% of daters respectively who were active paying customers at the time of the study.