Almost 40% of British singles have used AI for romantic advice, from writing messages to assessing potential partners

After Sam’s ex joked that her sister found him ugly, he turned to AI. Google Gemini had a look at the photo and politely disagreed. AI has been his wingman ever since, aiding his dating life by giving pep talks and vetting his messages.

The 27-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent is not the only AI-assisted romantic – a survey of 3,000 British singles published this month by Match Group, the owner of the Tinder and Hinge platforms, found 39% had used AI in their dating lives.

Relying on AI is bad, Sam tells the Guardian, adding he would rather begin dating in person, but there is a “paradigm shift in dating that’s occurring, which is really odd, where everything is expected to start online”.

The proportion of AI use in dating is even higher for younger generations, rising to 66% for members of gen Z (people born in the mid 1990s to early 2010s), and 53% of millennials (those born in the early 1980s to mid-90s).

Sam says pressure to make a good impression on dating apps means a misunderstood message could risk him losing out on dates. “Online dating … as a guy it’s a bit of a ghost town,” he says. “Rather than saying: ‘Hey, how’s your weekend going?’ it’s thinking about what I can pick up that might get a response.”

The most common use of AI across all cohorts, according to Match, is to get advice about someone they are talking to, plan date ideas, practise conversations, write a dating profile or messages, and vet whether profiles or photos are genuine.

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