Meta announced that it is adding an AI assistant to Facebook Dating in an attempt to address “swipe fatigue.” This chatbot helps users find matches closely tailored to what they are looking for.
According to the company’s blog, the assistant helps find better matches based on interests and preferences. It helps write unique prompts tailored to what users are looking for. “For example, you can write ‘Find me a Brooklyn girl in tech’ and the dating assistant will help you with your search. You can use the assistant to provide dating ideas or help you level up your profile,” the company says. The dating assistant will start rolling out in the U.S. and Canada.
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In addition to the assistant, Meta is also adding a feature called “Meet Cute,” that automatically matches users with a surprise match based on its algorithm. According to the company, this would help people who are tired of swiping, and are looking for a “fresh, easy way to expand their pool of typical dating candidates.”
Hundreds of thousands of young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 in the U.S. and Canada create “Facebook Dating profiles every month, and young adult matches are up 10% year over year. We want to help you meet more people you’re interested in without having to resort to endless swiping or paying to unlock product features,” Meta said about the new features.
Facebook Dating’s user base is relatively small when compared to competitors like Hinge and Tinder.
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AI features have already become relatively common in other dating apps. Match Group — the owner of Tinder, Hinge, OKCupid, and others — entered a partnership with OpenAI last year, which is part of the dating giant’s $20 million-plus investment in AI. This is a big bet, considering Match Group had lost about 68% of its stock price in the last five years. This investment has produced features like Tinder’s AI photo selector, which scans camera rolls to select profile images, and AI-powered matching. Hinge has a feature that lets users improve their responses to profile prompts with AI.
Recently, Justin McLeod, the CEO of Hinge said in an interview with Fast Company, that AI-powered personalized matching would make mass swiping “relatively arcane” in three to five years, or possibly sooner. He claims that the technology would allow users to articulate their preferences and values in natural language, rather than the current “Msorse code of likes and passes.” Last year, Bumble founder Whitney Herd courted controversy by suggesting that one day, users could have personal “AI concierges” that go on dates with other people’s AI to determine compatibility.