Hinge is betting that AI chatbots can fix what dating apps may have broken.
Hinge CEO Jackie Jantos told the BBC that Gen Z spends more than two hours a day less time in person with others than people the same age did 20 years ago. The company is rolling out AI-powered profile coaching and conversation prompts designed to help users start and sustain exchanges on the platform. Jantos framed the features not as a gimmick but as a practical response to a generation that grew up with less practice at face-to-face interaction.
The problem is that dating apps have been around long enough to be audited. Researchers cited in the report say the category has already overpromised on what technology can do for loneliness, which is a polite way of saying the gap between what apps claim and what they deliver is well documented. Adding an AI layer to a platform that has not closed that gap does not obviously change the math.
There is also an uncomfortable loop in the pitch: apps that displaced in-person socializing are now selling AI as the cure for the in-person socializing deficit. Hinge at least deserves credit for naming the problem out loud, even if the solution happens to keep users on Hinge longer.