AppTrendsHow Tinder finds the perfect match: Super likeable and artificial intelligence

“At Tinder we are focused on creating simple, fun and useful experiences for our users,” Brian Nogard

Finding love in the 21st century isn’t easy, but artificial intelligence is here to help. Tinder, the world’s most famous online dating app, is experimenting with a new feature — you already know Super Like, but now there’s Super Likeable. 50 million members spend an average of 90 minutes a day on Tinder, and while it has much lower numbers of users than other apps like Facebook or Instagram, it has much higher user engagement. Statistics show that 70% of those users are millennials, and a recent survey of American universities revealed that 73% of students consider Tinder the best dating app. Tinder was created in 2012, and according to relationship experts, its success is down to its apparent simplicity, because unlike other services like OKCupid and Meetic, it doesn’t require you to fill out any forms

How Tinder and Super Likeable work

Tinder is intuitive, engaging like a game, and is based on uses gestures. And that’s exactly why it’s addictive. To sign up, all you need is to log in with your Facebook account, choose a few photos and write a bio of no more than 500 characters. You can link your Tinder account to Spotify and Instagram, and then just start swiping. The rules are pretty simple–swipe left if you don’t like a profile, swipe right right if it sparks your interest. You can use the Super Like feature occasionally: swipe up this time, and it’s like the digital version of showing up at someone’s door with a bouquet of flowers. Likes are anonymous (to the joy of introverts everywhere), but Super Likes are visible to the user in question–a blue star shows on your profile. When 2 likes correspond, a match is made. That’s where Tinder’s job ends, and the ball moves firmly into the user’s’ court. But all of these simple and instinctive decisions translate into a boatload of data. With every swipe of a user’s finger, Tinder stores more information on their preferences.

Super Likable: how does the new feature work?

Super Likeable is still in the test phase. For now it’s only available in Los Angeles and New York. Using artificial intelligence called TinVec, the app analyzes the characteristics of a user’s profile and their past choices to offer up a quartet of profiles it thinks will be most interesting. The tool is completely random. “TinVec relies on users’ past swiping behavior, but that swiping behavior takes into account multiple factors, both physical and otherwise. The beauty of AI is that it incorporates all of those inputs into its ranking system,” explained Brian Norgard, the company’s Chief Product Officer. But some are saying that it’s just a strategic campaign to relaunch Super Likes, which weren’t very successful.

How artificial intelligence is conquering startups

AI is an autonomous learning process that imitates the human mind. In the future, more dating apps will be based on social media (just like Tinder with Mark Zuckerberg’s platform) to measure compatibility. These companies can track heart rate, breathing and other biometric data through wearables, and then artificial intelligence will be able to search and identify patterns in the data. It’s estimated that investments in artificial intelligence have increased by 300% in the last year. And just as smartphones have created a generation of people who like to get things done without having to speak to anyone–whether for home delivery or online banking–many people believe that AI will increase user interactions by 85%. Statistics show that 8 out of 10 companies have already adopted systems that use artificial intelligence or are planning to do so. “At Tinder we are focused on creating simple, fun and useful experiences for our users,” said Norgard. “We are fortunate to have an incredible, growing artificial intelligence team and we are experimenting with a variety of ways — Super Likeable being one of them — to delight users by bringing them the best in-app experiences through innovation.”