Match: Half of American singles have negative feelings about AI in dating

Forty-seven percent of Americans have a negative view of artificial intelligence (AI) in a relationship setting, a recent survey by dating app provider Match Group revealed. The survey of 1,000 people between the ages of 18 and 39 was published June 18, 2026. Additionally, 40% of respondents said they wouldn’t date someone who used an AI companion app, and among women aged 18 to 24, that percentage jumps to 51%. It’s a bold statement for a company built on connecting humans via software.

These stats indicate that AI companions remain relatively niche. Just 12% of 18–24 year olds reported using an AI companion app in the past three months, and about a third of those respondents indicated they wanted to build a meaningful relationship with the bot, not just try something new or different. The negative attitudes toward AI companions are currently more theoretical than real-world, based on the idea of someone who has an AI girlfriend/boyfriend to talk to, rather than an actual behavior.

1A clear line between help and replacement

But what’s intriguing about this survey is where people are drawing the line. Sixty-four percent of respondents expressed interest in using AI to enhance their dating experience, whether that means getting assistance with profile writing, photo selection, or icebreaker ideas. “We want AI to help with the hard parts, but hands off for the human parts,” Match wrote. People seem willing to accept AI as a way to facilitate human interaction, but not as a replacement for it. We’re already seeing this play out in various products, like Bumble’s “Bee” assistant, Tinder’s increased use of AI, and Hinge’s former CEO, who stepped down in 2025 to start an AI-based dating app.

2Why it matters

This is the most clear-eyed analysis of where consumers stand on the AI helper vs. replacement spectrum I’ve come across, and it’s not limited to dating apps. Anywhere AI intersects with a personal experience, we tend to appreciate it when it helps us do something, but resist it when it does something for us. Dating is simply a more visible example, because we know the stakes are high.

It’s also important to note that Match stands to profit more when its customers date each other than when they form connections with chatbots, so it has an incentive to emphasize negative feelings toward AI companions while pushing positive uses of AI to encourage more dates. These results may be accurate, but they’re not unbiased. Nevertheless, the basic message is helpful for figuring out how to incorporate AI into personal products: Assist me, don’t replace me.