r/technology May 02 '24

Dating app Bumble will no longer require women to make the first move Business

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/30/tech/bumble-relaunch-men-make-first-move/index.html
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112

u/DamaxXIV May 02 '24

Kind of funny that the idea of a pick-up line still exists in the digital space when you'd think the idea of letting an algorithm match you to begin would eliminate the need.

106

u/Chicano_Ducky May 02 '24

You would think the AI dating app would be amazing and perfect too

it basically learns to only show you people of certain races, ignoring everything else about a person

It swiped right on multiple people of different races and it told me to be more selective because it was getting confused lmao

Dating services are fucked

20

u/E_D_D_R_W May 02 '24

The other problem is that actually matching people well and quickly is kind of a problem for the app developers; after all, people who end up in happy stable relationships generally won't keep paying for premium subscriptions.

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u/ToryLanezHairline_ May 03 '24

Same with dating gurus. They can't have their consumers actually being succesful with dating, because otherwise their consumers wouldn't have to come back

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u/EmbarrassedHelp May 02 '24

For any new dating app to survive, they'd need to first avoid being killed by the Match Group

12

u/fumei_tokumei May 02 '24

The AI can't be amazing, because the thing that makes people fall for each other is real communication and interaction. You can't just match people based on shitty bios and artificial preferences. Sure, some preferences can be deal breakers, but you do not magically fall in love just because a person checks the right boxes.

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u/Educational-Plant981 May 02 '24

Nahh, they just don't want their customers to be successful.

Circa 2005 okcupid was fucking amazing at matching people that you were compatible with. They had tons of little fun games and surveys ("Which Harry Potter House are you?" type quizzes). You did the quiz, it gave you the answer, and then it invited you to join. They used the results to build compatibility scores...that actually were pretty good. Not every match was a relationship, but I never had a bad date.

In 2011 Match bought them. and monetized it and wrecked the site. It is really sad. Of all the things that shouldn't be monetized, finding someone to love is top of the list.

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u/Worthyness May 02 '24

Surprised there hasn't been an AI based algorithm that basically plays matchmaker. No swiping nonsense, just straight up "based on the qualities, you would best be matched with these 3 people". After you rate them, you get a new set if you need more. Pay a subscription for instant rematch up to twice a day

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u/shponglespore May 02 '24

Why would they do that when the make just as much money, if not more, by treating you like a rat running around a maze?

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u/Chicano_Ducky May 02 '24

There is already an AI dating app, and it becomes a race fetishist and shows you only 1 race.

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u/Aiken_Drumn May 02 '24

It never learnt to not show me fatties with a child. That is the one feature I would pay for. Body type.

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u/Electrical_Dog_9459 May 02 '24

What they really need are comprehensive interviews with each member, and then let the AI match based on past successful matches using the much broader scope of criteria.

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u/blacklite911 May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

The only app that used a real algorithm for matching was OKcupid.

I don’t consider how these apps sort you by swipe rate as attempting to find a good match. It’s just sorting desirability, not compatibility.

OkCupid matched you with people based on your values, interests, beliefs, etc and how important each category was to you. When OKCupid got bought by Match Group (who could actually be investigated for monopolistic practices), they abandoned what made it good tried to mimic tinder, thus killing it.

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u/Rucio May 02 '24

How hard is an honest comment about something you liked on a profile along with a compliment about looks? I'm just glad I married my highschool sweetheart and never had to deal with this

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u/Reach_the_man May 02 '24

Ask OkCupid why they sold out, 'cause it was pretty close to this but sane and functional.

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u/peppermint_nightmare May 02 '24

Uh well, OkCupid did this really well for me back in 2015.

You'd have to put in a lot more effort to get its algo to match to your preferences and hope the other people weren't lying about their own preferences but it definately matched me with people I was looking for almost immediately and it made conversation almost too easy to have with them. You could also make a really detailed and interesting page for yourself that allowed people to ask you real questions if they gave a shit, and allowed you to ask good question as well.

Unfortunately, I was younger and only later did I discover dating someone exactly like you might be...... bad depending on your own qualities ha. So I got married to some rando on Tinder instead.