While dating apps were all the millennial rage just a few years ago, Gen Z has been quite skeptical about finding a romantic partner online.
Even the CEO of Match Group, a major dating-app conglomerate, has admitted as much.
“The high-pressure kind of product offering of looking at a photo and judging it—that is cringy for a lot of Gen Z people,” Spencer Rascoff, the newly minted CEO of Match Group that houses Tinder, Match.com, OkCupid, Hinge, and Plenty of Fish, recently told The Wall Street Journal.
In an attempt to capture more young users, dating apps like Hinge, Tinder, and Bumble have recently started introducing AI-powered features to help solve some of the complaints users have had about the apps. This includes features like helping prompt users when creating their profile or crafting conversation starters.
But those efforts aren’t impressing Gen Z. Bloomberg Intelligence recently conducted a survey of about 1,000 dating app users, and nearly 50% of respondents said AI didn’t move the needle for them in terms of making a profile or having conversations with matches.
And while Gen Z is the youngest generation to enter adulthood during the AI revolution, they’re actually more uncomfortable with using AI to draft profile prompts, respond to messages, and modify pictures, survey results showed.
What dating apps are doing with AI
While the report didn’t explicitly name certain dating-app companies, several have made public their focus on AI features. In January, Hinge announced its AI-powered “Prompt Feedback” feature that “nudges” users to improve their responses.
“With Prompt Feedback, we’re intentionally leveraging AI to provide personalized coaching during a key moment for daters—making a great first impression on their profiles,” Justin McLeod, Hinge founder and CEO, said in a statement.
Bumble, another major dating-app company founded and run by Whitney Wolfe Herd, also uses AI for several of its features like AI Photo Picker and AI-powered conversation prompts. It also uses AI for safety features that help identify and remove fake profiles, scams, and spam as well as blurring out explicit images.
While safety features are undoubtedly helpful and a positive step forward for making dating apps more inviting, AI features won’t necessarily save the industry.
Dating apps “can try to come up with more ways to [allow] people to assess chemistry, but unless they are really pushing people to meet in real life by maybe creating more in-person activations and events where people can assess, ‘Oh, is there a vibe here?’ I don’t know that they will make the comeback to being as big as they once were,” Ilana Dunn, dating coach and podcast host of Seeing Other People, recently told Fortune.
Meanwhile, the Bloomberg survey findings also suggest the tools dating apps have introduced thus far just may not be addressing users’ needs, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Nicole D’Souza wrote in the report. Therefore, this could continue to hurt dating apps’ margins.
Bumble’s first-quarter revenue dropped nearly 8% year-over-year while Tinder’s fell 3%. Hinge, however, appears to be bucking that trend, reporting a 23% jump in Q1 revenue compared to last year. But Rascoff also announced in May he cut 13% of staff, which he said would save the company roughly $100 million.
Bumble also recently laid off 30% of its workforce. This came shortly after Wolfe Herd had returned to Bumble in March as CEO after a hiatus. Herd addressed the pitfalls of dating apps with Fortune’s MPW Editor Emma Hinchliffe upon her return.
Dating apps “are rooted in rejection and judgment,” Herd said. “You are judging people, and they are judging you. You’re being rejected, and you’re rejecting. These are not healthy dynamics.”
Now, Bumble is set on growing its user base again.
“Our focus now is on moving forward in a way that strengthens our core business, continues to serve our members effectively, and positions us for future growth,” a Bumble spokesperson told Fortune at the time of the layoffs.
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