Tinder’s AI Promises 'The One' But Swipes More Like 'The Meh'

KEY POINTS

•Match Group and its subsidiaries like Tinder, Hinge, and Grindr are investing tens of millions in AI to improve matchmaking.
•Despite AI efforts, Match Group's shares are down 75% over five years and paying users decline, while Bumble's user base and shares fell sharply in 2025.
•Innovative startups and former CEOs, like Hinge's Justin McLeod, are launching new AI-first dating apps hoping to disrupt the fatigued market.

Dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, and Grindr are dumping tens of millions into AI matchmaking to solve the world's oldest problem: why can’t my phone pick a decent date? Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff called it a 'platform shift' during LA Tech Week in October, as if the apocalypse hit, but thankfully just changed how we ghost people. Meanwhile, Bumble’s share price slid over 50% this year while lopping off 30% of staff, proving AI isn’t rescuing anyone from heartbreak, or the boardroom. Tinder’s Chemistry feature snoops through your camera roll for values, probably wondering why so many selfies exist. Grindr users like Paul Lazo complain AI keeps pairing him with young fit men despite his declared taste for bears, showing even robots are bad at matchmaking and basic human desires. New AI-first startups hope to ransom love from these dinosaur apps that can’t make you swipe right without causing existential swipe fatigue. It’s all painfully sincere, vague, and destined for the dating disaster archives.

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Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

After slashing paying users and stocks, Big Dating Apps rely on AI to fix love, obviously the perfect way to solve human connection with cold algorithms and camera roll stalking. Romance is officially outsourced to robots who can't even tell 'bears' from 'cute cubs.'

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