Tinder is deploying a new feature which uses artificial intelligence to help users pick images for their dating profiles.
The tool, called Photo Selector, requires daters to take a selfie for facial recognition and then allow the app to access photos on their smartphone. Then, the AI-powered technology recommends up to 27 photos that are meant to help users make a good first impression.
The dating app claims that this is a highly desired feature: 68% of app users said an AI-powered photo selector would be helpful, according to Tinder’s own survey data. And 52% said it’s hard to select profile images.
“The tool attempts to exclude photos with multiple faces and photos that appear to violate our rules,” such as ones that include nudity and drugs, a spokesperson told CNBC Make It. “Then, Photo Selector curates a diverse selection of photos based on what works well on Tinder – things like lighting, composition, and more.”
Tinder has used AI to alter its user experience for years. The feature “Are You Sure?,” released in 2021, detects potentially harmful or inappropriate language in an opening line and asks the user if they are sure they want to send it. The app also has a “Does this bother you?” tool which recognizes possibly offensive language in a message and asks the recipient if they’d like to report it.
Tinder is not the only dating app utilizing AI.
Bumble created the tool Private Detector, which uses AI to recognize and blur nude images sent on the app.
Earlier this year, Bumble founder and former CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said she envisions daters using an AI concierge to coach them on how to better converse.
“You could, in the near future, be talking to your AI dating concierge and you could share your insecurities … and then it could give you productive tips for communicating with other people,” she said at Bloomberg Tech in San Francisco.
Eventually, she says, people could use their AI concierge to find matches for them.
“There is a world where your dating concierge could go and date for you with other dating concierge … and then you don’t have to talk to 600 people,” she said.
These features come along at a time when many people feel frustrated with dating technology. Almost half, 46%, of Americans say they have had somewhat or very negative experiences online dating, according to 2023 data from Pew Research Center.
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