(NewsNation) — Dating app users frustrated by endless swiping and making small talk in chat could be helped by artificial intelligence, according to Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd.
Wolfe Herd was defending the app’s new AI feature while painting a vision of a future AI that could act as a “concierge” for daters.
The idea, according to Wolfe Herd, is for the AI to do the initial weeding out of matches and handle the initial conversation to determine compatibility.
While dating apps like Bumble and Tinder have become the default for modern dating, the apps have also been criticized for “gamifying” human connection. Features designed to entice and keep users have also turned humans into commodities, critics say, creating a system where people are always searching for someone new and better rather than pursuing meaningful relationships.
The AI assistants for users could chat to each other, scanning all the other people in your area and narrowing down the field to those the app believes you’re most likely to be compatible with, according to Wolfe Herd, taking you from a possible 600 dates to fewer than five potential partners.
Of course, the AI would have to be accurate, and studies have shown that dating app algorithms have traditionally not been the greatest at actually determining compatibility, raising the possibility users could miss out on matches that may be better in person than on paper.
In the meantime, Bumble’s new AI system performs a more simple task, generating opening messages for users who are tired of thinking what to say to their latest match.
