Grindr says users can now tap AI for better matches
Grindr Inc. has revealed new features for its premium subscribers, hoping to leverage artificial intelligence to help users get better matches.
The West Hollywood-based LGBTQ+ dating platform said Monday its premium plan now provides access to new AI features and deeper customization.
The company has nicknamed its AI gAI, which is pronounced “gay eye.” It says it will become an “intelligence layer across the entire application.”
“It’s not about ‘AI’ per se. It’s about fewer dead ends, less noise, and more real connections,” the company wrote in the annual product roadmap it released Monday.
The company is also investing more in AI-based security tools and behind-the-scenes operations, Chief Executive Officer George Arison told Bloomberg. AI already writes about 70% of the application code, he added.
“Grindr is becoming an AI-native company or an AI-driven company,” he said. “It’s taking a 15+ year old company and converting it into an AI company as if it was built in the last two years.”
The new premium tier, currently available in beta testing in Australia, New Zealand, select U.S. cities, and Canada, is aimed at frequent users who want to spend less time scrolling. It aims to help users discover potential matches, assess whether these potential matches are likely to respond, and help users track past conversations with previous matches.
This year, its competitors unveiled AI-based features aimed at attracting new users, particularly Generation Z.
Bumble last week announced “Bee,” an AI-powered dating assistant. Tinder has introduced a handful of new tools, including a real-time video speed dating experience, an “Events” feature, and a redesigned “Music Mode” that connects users based on shared music tastes.
Another new tool coming to Grindr is Health Center, which offers training on sexual health, heart and metabolic health, weight management, and hair loss solutions.
It will also offer wellness products, including medications available through Grindr’s Woodwork program. The health center will be accessible to all users.
Grindr, which has been scrutinized for its past handling of sensitive information including users’ HIV status, has tried to ease concerns about privacy issues by focusing on AI.
A February post on the company’s Grindr blog highlighting the new features said users “remain in control at all times” and that AI-based features can be turned off. Sensitive health data is “categorically excluded” from the use of AI, according to the company.
Additionally, the company will use deep AI to power a Smart Inbox tool that prioritizes conversations most likely to lead somewhere.
The company is exploring how to apply lessons from a previous chatbot test to a new feature called enhanced search, which lets users surface profiles that better match their preferences. These features would be part of a separate paid tier for later users.
Grindr was a pioneering location-based dating app for queer men when tech entrepreneur Joel Simkhai launched it in 2009 in Los Angeles. The popular hookup app later moved its headquarters to West Hollywood and was acquired in 2016 by Chinese gaming company Kunlun Group Limited.
Grindr’s Chinese owners hoped to take the company public, but the U.S. government forced it to sell in 2019 over concerns that Beijing could use sensitive data collected through the app against American citizens. In 2020, San Vicente Acquisitions bought the company for $608 million.
Bloomberg’s Samantha Kelly contributed to this report.
