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Match Group, the international conglomerate that owns Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, and almost every other popular dating app, just inked a major partnership with OpenAI. The company shared only a few hazy details, saying AI will help employees with “work-related tasks.” The dating giant says it long term plan is to squeeze artificial intelligence into “literally everything” in its apps. Incorporating ChatGPT into its worker’s daily responsibilities is the first major step towards making online dating an AI-focused enterprise.
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The company celebrated its new partnership with a press release written by ChatGPT and edited by Match Group’s Corporate Communications team (meaning it was written by MatchGroup’s communications team). It includes quotes supposedly penned by the AI itself, as though it has its own feelings about corporate strategy. “I’m thrilled that Match Group matched with me,” ChatGPT said. “Together, we’re not just breaking the ice; we’re melting it, and reshaping the way work gets done.”
The deal includes 1000 ChatGPT Enterprise licenses purchased for an undisclosed sum. The company says it plans to use the AI for communications, coding, design, analysis, building templates, and eliminating other repetitive tasks.
Continuing with the company’s cutesy tone, Match Group’s Chief Technology Officer Will Wu said that using AI “has been like adding a pinch of magic into our daily tasks.” Wu promises it will amount to a “full-on work culture revolution.”
What that means for Match Group’s hundreds of millions of lovelorn users is less clear. However, Match Group has been explicit that it thinks it will be good for its business and the world if just about every part of its users’ interactions is shaped and filtered through the algorithmic lens of artificial intelligence.
“I believe that AI is existential to the future of Match Group and our business,” Match Group CEO Bernard Kim said on a January earnings call. “I envision AI to be felt through the entire experience, influencing everything from profile creation to matching to connecting for dates. Literally everything.”
In one sense, that’s the status quo. A Match Group spokesperson said the company has used AI to power trust and safety efforts, enhance matching algorithms, and a variety of other purposes for most of its recent history.
But adding AI to “literally everything” is a major shift to a company that has astronomical power over our romantic lives. And so far, that shift includes a surprisingly tolerant policy towards people plugging AI into their dating profiles and letting it run amok on other users. In early February, Gizmodo reported that a man used ChatGPT to talk to 5,000 women on Tinder.
This, apparently, does not violate Match Group’s policies, including its number one AI principle: promoting authenticity. At the time, a company spokesperson told Gizmodo that “Tinder and Match Group believe AI is a great tool that we believe will make dating better.”
In fact, Match Group wants to explore building its own AI tools that could perform tasks like writing your conversation starters or suggesting date ideas. That means the next time you’re chatting with someone on a dating app, you might want to ask yourself whether you’re just flirting with a robot.
Update 02/22/2024, 5:03 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with a comment from Match Group.
