Match survey finds 39% of British singles surveyed have used AI in dating

AI is becoming part of the conversation before singles even meet. A Match Group survey of 3,000 British singles, published in October and covered by the Guardian on October 31, found 39% had used AI in dating. Yet about a third said discovering AI-written messages would make them end a date.

From a confidence boost to a dating coach

For Sam, a 27-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent interviewed by the Guardian, the catalyst was a hurtful remark. After his ex joked that her sister found him ugly, he asked Google Gemini to assess a photograph. Its reassuring response became the start of a habit: using AI for pep talks and to check his messages.

He would rather start dating in person, but described pressure to make the right impression online. A misunderstood message, he said, could cost him a date. His use of AI is less about handing over the relationship than finding an opening that gets a response.

The survey, from Tinder and Hinge owner Match Group, identified several common uses across age groups:

• Getting advice about someone they were talking to and planning date ideas.
• Practising conversations and writing profiles or messages.
• Checking whether profiles or photographs were genuine.

Younger respondents reported the highest use. These figures measure whether people said they had used AI in their dating lives—not whether the advice was sound or whether it helped them find a partner.

66%Gen Z respondents

Two-thirds of Gen Z respondents reported using AI in their dating lives.

53%Millennial respondents

Just over half of millennial respondents reported using AI in dating.

Help with nerves, doubts about authenticity

Some interviewees described using chatbots to slow themselves down rather than accelerate a romance. An anonymous single mother in New Zealand told the Guardian she had set up ChatGPT as a coach after her marriage ended. She wanted help feeling more secure, avoiding panic over delayed messages and not rushing into a relationship.

A 51-year-old man in Melbourne described a different need: reducing the work of reviewing profiles and juggling chats after a 20-year marriage. He credited a chatbot with encouraging him to reconsider the woman who became his current partner. When he disclosed his AI use, she said she had been using Claude to analyse his responses too.

That mutual acceptance is not universal. Alongside the finding about ending dates over AI-written messages, the survey found most singles rejected using AI to alter a photograph. Advice behind the scenes and changes to how someone presents themselves were both part of the survey—but respondents did not treat every use as acceptable.

Nor have chatbots displaced human confidants. Only 7% preferred discussing how a date went with a chatbot, compared with 29% who preferred a group chat and 20% who preferred their parents. Those answers concern the post-date conversation, a narrower role than the survey’s overall measure of AI use.

The next boundary: assistants dating assistants

The survey also asked about a more hands-off possibility: two people’s AI assistants talking and reporting back before the people speak. More than a quarter liked the idea, although a majority considered it unacceptable. That is an attitude toward a proposed arrangement, not evidence that respondents were already using it.

Match’s head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth, told the Guardian the company takes a “hard stance” against bot-to-bot dating. His objection was about the purpose of the service: “we don’t get closer to that goal of human connection by having robots talk to each other”.