Meta Introduces AI Assistant for Facebook Dating to Battle Swipe Fatigue and Enhance User Matches

Facebook’s parent company Meta has unveiled plans to integrate an AI assistant into its dating platform. The chatbot is designed to assist users in locating compatible matches more efficiently. For instance, Meta’s AI could be employed to find a user specific matches such as “a tech-savvy individual from Brooklyn” or help refine their profile.

Meta also introduced a new feature called Meet Cute, which offers weekly surprise matches based on its algorithm, aiming to alleviate the phenomenon known as ‘swipe fatigue’.

The company reported a 10% year-on-year growth in dating matches among adults aged between 18 and 29. However, this figure lags behind competitors like Tinder, with approximately 50 million daily active users, and Hinge, boasting 10 million daily active users.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a common feature across popular dating apps. Even newer platforms such as Sitch have sought to differentiate themselves by incorporating AI features.

Last year, Match Group—the owner of Tinder, Hinge, OKCupid, and others—entered a partnership with OpenAI, marking part of the company’s substantial investment in AI totaling over $20 million. This move underscores the significant role AI is anticipated to play within the dating industry.

Consequences of this investment have already begun to materialize, with Tinder integrating an AI photo selector tool and AI-driven matching. Hinge offers a feature enabling users to enhance their responses to profile prompts using AI.

Bumble has also incorporated similar AI features, while its founder Whitney Wolfe Herd stirred controversy last year by proposing the idea of users potentially being assigned personal “AI concierges” that would go on dates with other people’s AIs to assess compatibility.