Many singles looking for love are not interested in forming a romantic connection with An AI chatbot.
New research from Match Group, the dating company behind popular dating apps like Tinder and Hinge, found that nearly half (47%) of the 1,000 18-39 year olds surveyed “view AI in romantic situations negatively.” It’s also a tough pass for most singles if you like AI-powered apps, like Kindroid and Replika. Two in five singles aged 18 to 39 refuse to date someone who uses these apps, including more than half (51%) of women aged 18 to 24, according to Match Group findings.
Finding love with AI can be tricky, whether you’re using AI to prevent you from saying the wrong thing to a new connection, boost your dating profile or act as your soulmate to help you practice the big time (which we don’t advise, more below).
Despite all the ways you can use AI in the dating space, singles have a big concern. The majority of singles in the survey said they use AI for everyday productivity tasks, but when it comes to dating, bots can’t keep up with the ride. Most people only want to connect with people.
Most singles are not looking for someone interested in an AI companion
AI is getting into personal relationships more than ever before. Imagine going to ChatGPT to decide who’s right when you’re arguing with your spouse. Or even dating a bot. It’s not easy when there are AI applications like personal relationships. Some even have avatars.
A Match Group survey found that dating an AI bot is a no-go — 4 to 1 opposed. The survey found that only 12% of singles have tried dating apps in the past three months — mostly to try something new, not as a substitute for love. The majority used them for boredom and entertainment (45%), and role playing and acting (43%). Fewer use AI to build real connections (38%) or process emotions (26%).
Instead of relying on bots, singles get advice from friends and family (60% respectively), and only 20% use AI. That’s not surprising, considering a study published in March in the journal Science found that AI is more likely to agree with you and less likely to help with things like repairing relationships. Research shows you can rely on AI more than that.
Michael Salas, a relationship therapist, agrees that seeking advice from family and friends rather than AI is a better move. Salas was tested using AI in a complex situation he had with a friend, and the bot’s answer might surprise you.
“He told me that this friend obviously doesn’t care about me. Verbatim, he told me this,” Salas said. “This was not what I was asking, and I know it was wrong. When I told them that, it was quickly corrected, told me I was right, and then changed to a new frame. That’s not smart.”
Salas advises caution when using AI in dating. “I think you have to be really careful because it will take liberties and give wrong or inappropriate advice. Save that for the real people who know. Ask them.” Instead, Salas recommends using AI to organize and generate ideas, as ways to show someone you care — not to replace people.
Using AI in dating has limitations
The same found that the majority (74%) of singles aged 18 to 39 use AI tools, such as ChatGPTalways. And 69% are using AI for productivity tasks like summaries, problem solving again content writing. Many find their use of AI to be good across several use cases. But not when it comes to finding love.
There are exceptions. More than half (64%) can see AI helping them find love, such as helping to keep a conversation going and building a strong profile (27%), starting a conversation (26%) and planning a date (27%). Some AI features already depend on preferences, such as Tinder’s powerful AI matching for hookup suggestions based on your interests and the camera (if you enable it). And there are date planning apps, like Date Idea Generator and My Spicy Vanilla. And Hinge released Convo Starters to ease the stress of sending the first message.
It all still depends on how comfortable singles are with using AI to help matchmaking. Based on the findings of the Match Group survey, the percentage using AI assistance remains less than half in all the most use cases, which makes it clear that most people do not want bots to interfere in their love lives.
It will be interesting to see how Match Group changes or creates AI features for its dating apps in the future based on these findings and how singles respond. Match Group did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
