Half of US Singles Sour on AI in Dating, Match Says

Nearly half of U.S. singles — 47% — feel negatively about AI in a romantic context, according to a new survey from Match Group, the company behind Tinder, Hinge, and OkCupid. The survey polled 1,000 people aged 18 to 39 and was published on June 18, 2026. Forty percent said they would refuse to date someone who uses an AI companion app, and among women aged 18 to 24 that figure climbs to 51%. For a company whose entire business is getting people to connect through software, it is a striking thing to put in writing.

The numbers also show how small the AI-companion phenomenon still is in practice. Only 12% of 18-to-24-year-olds had used a companion app in the previous three months, and of those, roughly a third said they were looking for a genuine connection with the chatbot rather than novelty or curiosity. So the strong negative reaction is, for now, mostly a reaction to an idea — a hypothetical partner who talks to an AI girlfriend or boyfriend — rather than to a widespread habit.

1A clear line between help and replacement

What makes the survey more interesting than a simple thumbs-down is where people draw the line. A full 64% said they see potential value in AI features for their own dating journey — help writing a profile, picking photos, or coming up with conversation starters. Match summed up the sentiment as wanting AI to "help with the hard parts, but hands off for the human parts." In other words, people are largely fine with AI as a tool that gets them to a real human, and hostile to AI as a substitute for one. That distinction is showing up in product form already, from Bumble's "Bee" assistant to Tinder's expanded AI tools, and Hinge's former CEO left in 2025 to launch an AI-focused dating app.

2Why it matters

This is the clearest read I've seen on where regular people actually want the line between AI helper and AI replacement — and it is not unique to dating. The same split shows up everywhere AI touches something personal: most of us welcome a tool that drafts the awkward message, summarizes the boring document, or suggests the first move, and recoil at the idea of a machine doing the human part on our behalf. Dating just makes the boundary vivid because the stakes are obviously emotional.

There is also a self-interest angle worth naming: Match makes money when people meet other people, not when they bond with a chatbot, so it has every reason to highlight discomfort with AI companions while promoting AI that nudges users back toward real dates. The findings are believable, but the framing is not neutral. Still, the underlying signal — assist me, don't replace me — is a useful compass for anyone deciding how much AI to put into a personal product.