Tinder Launches AI-Powered 'Game Game' to Help Users Practice Flirting Skills

Tinder's new AI-powered game assesses your flirting skills | TechCrunch

You know the online dating scene is bad when dating giants like Tinder are now introducing AI personas for users to flirt with. On Tuesday, the company announced a new game powered by OpenAI, allowing users to interact with an AI bot to practice flirting, reenact meet-cute scenarios, and receive scores with suggestions for improving their dating skills. To play Tinder's The Game Game, tap the Tinder logo in the top left corner of the app. The game gives users a deck of cards, with each one featuring a different AI persona and scenario. Users must use their voices to respond and try to flirt their way into getting a date with the bot. After the interaction, users are scored on a three-point scale using flame emojis. The AI provides real-time feedback throughout the experience. If users are rude, for instance, the AI offers suggestions to improve the conversation. According to the company, the new game is intended to provide a fun and lighthearted experience, not to be taken too seriously. It's only available for U.S. users on iOS for a limited time. However, the trend of people flirting with AI bots is becoming scarily popular, and Tinder seems to be banking on this as a way to attract more users amid its struggles for growth. There are already existing apps in this space, such as Replika's AI dating sim Blush, Teaser, and Rizz. Tinder has announced other AI features, such as an AI photo selector tool that launched last year and upcoming features for discovery and matching.

Tinder Unveils Playful AI Chatbots in Bid to Boost Engagement

Match Group Inc.'s Tinder unveiled an in-app game that invites users to flirt with artificially intelligent chatbots, part of a larger effort to return the dating app to growth by boosting user engagement. Part proof-of-concept, part marketing stunt, the free voice-based game uses OpenAI's GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini models to generate short, highly exaggerated rom-com scenarios. Think: a stranger reaching for the same shopping basket at a grocery store, or someone whose luggage got switched up with yours at the airport baggage claim.

Review | Tinder lets you flirt with AI characters. Three of them dumped me.

I flirted with a lineup of AI characters to size up a new Tinder dating feature. In a world where fewer couples meet in person and young people date less in general, Tinder is experimenting with a chatbot that claims to help users improve their flirting skills. The dating app popped to the top of the Apple app store after it said earlier this week it would debut an in-app game that uses AI characters -- built using OpenAI's GPT-4o -- to spin up pretend situations. The character kicks off an improvised conversation, and the user responds out loud with something flirty. You can win points for banter the app deems "charming" or "playful." You lose points if your back-and-forth seems "cheeky" or "quirky." If that seems tough to navigate, it was. I flirted with a lineup of AI characters to size up the chatbot and quickly found myself in a confusing entanglement with an AI-generated data analyst named Andrew. Tinder, owned by Match Group, says the "Game Game," as it's named, is just for fun. It's available only to users in the United States on iPhones for a limited time. But its creation reflects the growing role AI tools play in our lives, including our intimate relationships. As apps like Tinder and Bumble lose users amid "dating app burnout," the companies are turning to AI to win new growth. At the same time, people are forming relationships with AI companion bots by the millions. The "Game Game" served up a series of situations, each involving a public meet-cute like bumping into someone at a coffee shop or showing up to the same concert. It asked me to talk out loud into my phone and win the romantic interest of various AI characters. The first scenario involved a financial analyst named Charles, whom I've supposedly run into at the Tokyo airport after accidentally swapping our luggage. I tried my best to be polite to the finance guy who stole my suitcase, asking questions about his travel and agreeing to go to coffee. But the game had some critical feedback: I should try to connect more emotionally using humor or stories from my life. My next go had me at a Dallas wedding trying to flirt with Andrew, a data analyst who had supposedly stumbled into the venue, underdressed, because he'd been looking for a quiet spot to ... analyze data. This time I kept things playful, poking fun at Andrew for crashing a wedding. Andrew didn't like that. I'd "opted to disengage" by teasing this person instead of helping him blend in at the wedding, the app said. A failure on my part, apparently -- and also a reminder why generative AI doesn't belong everywhere. Tinder isn't the first dating app to experiment with AI-powered conversations. Rizz uses AI to autosuggest good lines to use when you're talking to a potential match. Teaser spins up a chatbot that's based on your personality, meant to talk and behave like you would during a flirty chat. Companion bots, meanwhile, have spawned high-profile cases of users falling deeply in love. They've also encouraged users to kill their families or assassinate the queen of England. Popular companion bot company Replika boasts more than 30 million users. Going in, I was worried Tinder's AI characters would outperform the people I've met on dating apps and I'd fall down a rabbit hole of robot love. Instead, they behaved in a way typical for chatbots: Drifting toward biased norms and failing to capture the complexity of human emotions and interactions. The "Game Game" seemed to replicate the worst parts of flirting -- the confusion, the unclear expectations, the uncomfortable power dynamics -- without the good parts, like the spark of curiosity about another person. Tinder released the feature on April Fools' Day, likely as a bid for impressions and traffic. But its limitations overshadowed its novelty. Such is the case for many AI tools right now, from internet search bots to online shopping assistants, according to reviews from my Post colleagues. Companies are eager to incorporate this newish technology, often without considering whether it adds any value for users. Hillary Paine, Tinder's vice president of product, growth and revenue, said in an email that AI will play a "big role in the future of dating and Tinder's evolution." She said the game is meant to be silly and that the company "leaned into the campiness." Gen Z is a socially anxious generation, Paine said, and this age group is willing to endure a little cringe if it leads to a "real connection." Tinder and I might have different definitions of a real connection. Sorry Andrew -- it's not me, it's you.

Tinder's new 'Game Game' is like speed dating a vocal AI

Users are rated on a three-flame scale to gamify the experience I'm very happily married, but the memories of excruciating anxiety in attempts to flirt are carved into my brain forever. Just getting up the nerve to start a conversation felt like a victory. Perhaps it would have felt less intense after practicing with someone who has absolutely no chance of rejecting me, like, say, an AI character. That's what Tinder thinks. The dating app has released an AI-powered experiment called 'The Game Game,' which produces artificial conversational partners and fictional situations for you to practice those pick-up lines. Despite the April 1st release, The Game Game is a no-fooling real voice-based feature built into Tinder's iOS app. Using OpenAI's GPT-4o AI model, the feature lets you practice flirting with AI characters. Play out a scenario like you're at an airport, and your AI-generated love interest has accidentally picked up your identical suitcase. Sparks fly. You charm them. Or at least, you try. You access it by tapping the Tinder logo in the corner of the app, where you're dealt a stack of virtual cards. Each one contains a random persona, albeit one based on your age and other preferences. That persona is matched to an often cheesy meet-cute scenario in a random location. Whatever it is, the AI initiates the conversation, and you respond with your voice. And the voices are all different, with accents, cadences, and tones that are unique. You actually talk out loud to your phone, interrupting each other and talking about the scenario as if you're casually bantering with a charming stranger in real life. You can see a couple examples of the scenarios and the 'people' I talked to below. I'll admit, I went in skeptical, but it was actually a pretty smooth interaction that didn't feel stilted at all. I could imagine attempting to work on my initial conversational gambits with it. The real-time feedback doesn't just tell you whether you "won" the scenario; it nudges you. If you're too sarcastic, the AI might suggest you dial it down. If your answers are a little flat, it might prompt you to open up. Based on how you handle yourself, the AI scores your "date" using a three-flame rating system, a flirtatious Michelin rating. That gamification is likely a major draw for some who like the idea of a somewhat objective rating. Of course, the AI isn't perfect. Sometimes, the responses felt canned, repetitive, or just a little off. There are guardrails in place so users can't veer into wildly inappropriate territory, which might be overly limiting sometimes, though it does keep the vibe light and weird in the right way. I don't think The Game Game will be universally loved, as it comes off as a somewhat gimmicky concept. And some people may worry it's another step toward outsourcing genuine human interaction. But I think most people know it's just a simulation with sophisticated technology that lets you rehearse for real people. The Game Game is only available for a limited time on iOS in the U.S., but I wouldn't be surprised if Tinder brings it back and expands access should it prove popular. Whether the practice translates to real-life success, well let's just say puns are a hit-or-miss tactic with both AI and real people.

Tinder's new game tests your flirting skills with AI personas powered by OpenAI

Can an AI voice bot help you land a date? That's what Tinder is aiming for with a new game in collaboration with OpenAI. On Tuesday, Tinder launched The Game Game, an experience designed to help you practice your conversation skills by talking to an AI voice, powered by OpenAI's GPT-4o model. The Game Game works by dealing you a "stack of cards," each card containing a different AI persona and "meet cute" scenario, like accidentally grabbing someone else's luggage at baggage claim. Your goal is to score a date or a phone number within the time limit. You'll also get a score based on a scale of three Tinder flame icons. The time limit isn't just there to gamify the experience. "We built the time limit on purpose because this is just a warm up," said Devyn Simone, Tinder's relationship expert in residence, at the launch event. "This is just a game. It is not designed to replace human conversations. Instead, it's actually designed to encourage real conversations with real people in real life." There's also a limit of five games per day, lest you forget the real purpose of using Tinder as a dating app for matching with humans, not bots. Tinder isn't the only dating app to bring in AI features. Hinge recently launched an AI prompt editor, Grindr is testing an AI wingman, and then there are apps like Rizz and WingAI that are basically AI agents dating on behalf of the user. However, unlike other AI dating app features that are text-based, Tinder's new game brings a sense of realism to practicing your game by using OpenAI's Advanced Voice Mode. As part of the game, users are rewarded with points by saying flirty and engaging things that would normally keep a conversation going. "The AI rewards curiosity and warmth, listening, asking follow up questions," Simone said during the event. "It's not about being slick or having the best line, it's about being human." Additionally, The Game Game was built with social psychology frameworks that inform the scoring and give you tips and recommendations. That said, the game isn't meant to be taken too seriously. "The Game Game is intentionally over the top -- a low-stakes, playful experience that feels more like improv than a guide to perfect flirting," said a Tinder spokesperson in a follow up email. "It's about helping people feel comfortable expressing themselves, not following a formula for success." In other words, the point is to practice your skills in a risk-free environment so you can hopefully feel more confident for the real thing. So what's it like to play The Game Game? At the event, I got to test it out. My meet cute was bumping into a lawyer AI persona at a busy mall. We chatted about what "he" was buying (legal books, because, ya know, he's a lawyer) and I made up something about buying an anniversary present for my parents. The game flashed a warning saying I needed to ask more questions. "So what kind of law do you practice?" I said in a panic, and learned he was a corporate lawyer. As I found myself listening to a boilerplate response about why he liked corporate law, it suddenly felt very much like a real life dating scenario, complete with feigned interest and jilted small talk -- both enhanced by the surreal premise that I was talking to a robot. Our time together ran out before I was able to secure a date -- maybe I should have pretended to be more interested in corporate law? Or maybe we just weren't a good match to begin with. But now I can say I've had the unique experience of getting romantically rejected by a bot. For the record, this particular session was on the highest difficulty level, so my ego is still barely in tact. Did my flirting skills get better? With a time limit and a specific objective, I definitely tried harder to keep the conversation going, so I can see how one could improve after a few more sessions. But while I played the game, I found myself wondering how a human would respond differently to the conversation, which made the whole experience feel unrealistic. But I guess that's the point. It's supposed to just be a game so you can get out there in the real world and talk to humans instead of bots.

Tinder Deploys AI-Powered Singles That Automatically Shoot Down Your Rizzless Attempts at Flirtation

Tinder has teamed up with OpenAI to bring an AI voice-activated flirting game to the dating app. As the company revealed in a press release, the awkwardly-named "Game Game" uses OpenAI's voice mode and GPT-4o reasoning model to encourage users to roleplay various meet-cute scenarios and get points based on how good they are at flirting. (Tinder assured in that same press release that the voice data gleaned from the game wouldn't be used to train any new AI models.) In an Instagram video, Spencer Rascoff, the Zillow cofounder who was recently appointed CEO of the Tinder-owning Match Group, demonstrated how the goofy game works. (The 49-year-old executive may have also revealed his own preferences in the video: the AI single he matched with, Mila, was listed as age 32.) Upon "matching" with "Mila" -- who, like the other AI Game Game participants, has a cartoonish avatar and an audibly robotic voice -- Rascoff begins one of the most uncomfortable conversational exchanges we've ever had the displeasure of witnessing. At one point during the contrived scenario meant to take place in a kitchen at a party, the Palantir alum tells the AI avatar that he's having a "great time at this cooking activity," and soon after informs her she's "spicy." It also doesn't help that the video itself keeps losing focus on Rascoff's phone screen and misspelling the name "Mila" in its captions. In an interview with Fast Company, Tinder growth and product VP Hillary Paine seemed to suggest that the game's goofiness was intentional -- and cited metrics from a 2023 company survey as evidence. "Our Future of Dating report found that 64 percent of young singles are totally fine with a little cringe if it leads to a real connection," Paine detailed. "We didn't want it to feel overly polished or intense. Instead, we leaned into humor, awkwardness, and low-pressure moments to help users practice flirting in a fun, playful, and judgment-free way." After trying the Game Game out for ourselves, Futurism can definitely agree that it's not "overly polished," though perhaps not in the way Tinder's C-suite intended. When this reporter opened the in-app game, they forgot, as many are wont to do, to turn off their Bluetooth speaker. As such, the AI single they matched with began talking in stereo -- and then, seemingly, responding to its own audio as if it were a real person speaking back. We've reached out to Tinder to ask about that seeming glitch, but it's still a pretty hilarious exploit for a game -- and company -- that's clearly attempting to garner engagement via a clunky and malfunctioning technology.

Tinder wants you to flirt with an AI bot before you flop with a human

Think you've got game? Time to put it to the test with Tinder's latest launch in collaboration with OpenAI. On Tuesday, Tinder rolled out The Game Game -- a new experience designed to help users practice their flirting skills by chatting with an AI voice, powered by OpenAI's GPT-4o model. Players are dealt a stack of virtual cards, each introducing a different AI persona and a hilariously exaggerated rom-com scenario (think: a luggage mix-up at the airport or accidentally crushing someone's sunglasses on the beach). Your challenge? Charm your way through it. The bot makes the first move, and users respond in real time -- earning feedback on their game as they go. Nail the convo, land a "date," and you win. But don't get too cozy with your digital crush: Each session is capped at three minutes, and users are limited to five plays per day -- just in case you forget Tinder is still about connecting with real people. While The Game Game's April 1 launch date might raise eyebrows, it's no prank -- it's just not that serious. Using speech-to-speech AI, the game delivers absurdly funny scenarios designed to make you laugh more than sweat.

I Struck Out With Tinder and OpenAI's New Dating Game

OpenAI and Tinder have teamed up to create a new voice-based game for singles looking to brush up on their dating skills, and it's only kind of a joke. For a limited time starting today, Tinder users can play The Game Game, a "meet-cute" simulator that uses the same impressive voice AI technology powering ChatGPT's advanced voice mode. In the game, users have a few minutes to navigate a chance encounter with an AI voice and secure a phone number or date. At an event held at OpenAI's New York City offices, executives from both companies said it wasn't a mistake that The Game Game is launching on April Fools' Day. Devyn Simone, Tinder's resident relationship expert, said the game is intended to be a "light-hearted, over the top experience designed to help you practice those cringeworthy moments." In other words, it's not an April Fool's joke, but at the same time, it's not that serious either. Here's how it works: By tapping the logo on the top-left corner of the Tinder app's homepage, you'll be taken to The Game Game and given a prompt describing your meet-cute situation. In my time demoing the game, I found myself stuck in an elevator, swapping luggage at the airport, and taking art classes with AI-powered "singles."

Tinder unveils playful AI chatbots in bid to boost engagement

Tinder has made a priority of winning over Gen Z daters, who make up about half its user base. The app, the biggest in Match's portfolio, has struggled to reverse a decline in subscribers that began in 2023, and has warned investors that brand revenue won't return to growth until 2027.Match Group Inc.'s Tinder unveiled an in-app game that invites users to flirt with artificially intelligent chatbots, part of a larger effort to return the dating app to growth by boosting user engagement. Part proof-of-concept, part marketing stunt, the free voice-based game uses OpenAI's GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini models to generate short, highly exaggerated rom-com scenarios. Think: a stranger reaching for the same shopping basket at a grocery store, or someone whose luggage got switched up with yours at the airport baggage claim. In talking to the bot, which initiates the scene, users can accumulate points for warmth and curiosity, receive real-time feedback on their responses and ultimately "win" the game if the AI character verbally agrees to a date. Plays are limited to five per day and about three minutes at a time. For now, at least, the feature is a limited-time offering for iOS users in the US. "The goal is to give users a fun, judgment-free space to experiment and potentially build a little confidence before stepping into IRL conversations," said Hillary Paine, Tinder's vice president of product, growth and revenue. Whether the feature stays in the Tinder app permanently will depend on the kind of user feedback the company receives, she added. Tinder has made a priority of winning over Gen Z daters, who make up about half its user base. The app, the biggest in Match's portfolio, has struggled to reverse a decline in subscribers that began in 2023, and has warned investors that brand revenue won't return to growth until 2027. One of the company's solutions for boosting engagement is to "bring the fun back to Tinder," as well as ridding the ecosystem of fake profiles and bad actors, executives said during Match's investor day last year. The company is also testing a double-dating feature, and is promising more in-app matches and rewards if users log into the app consistently for a week. With this in-app chatbot, dubbed "The Game Game," Tinder isn't going so far as to introduce an AI companion, the idea of which has been controversial given the documented impact it can have on people's emotional wellbeing if used unchecked. The game's limited-time and over-the-top nature nature aims "to help keep the experience light and prevent over-reliance," Paine said, adding the feature is an experiment to show "how technology can support authenticity, not replace it." Since testing OpenAI's audio models last summer and working with the AI company to bring the feature to life, Tinder said it has incorporated additional safeguards into the game, on top of detecting hate speech or clear violations of community guidelines. That includes using OpenAI's moderation technology to end the conversation if it involves sensitive topics or advances that make people uncomfortable. Regardless of whether users risk growing attached to the chatbot, operating the game long term would also be a financial commitment. Match last year struck an agreement with OpenAI for more than 1,000 ChatGPT enterprise licenses. Representatives for both companies declined to disclose pricing terms for Tinder's usage of OpenAI's real-time speech-to-speech model, which is required for the game to run. Match, which also owns Hinge, has incorporated AI throughout its apps, putting the technology to work in a variety of uses, which include selecting optimal photos and making profile suggestions. Other dating apps such as Grindr Inc. have also been testing AI-powered features akin to a wingman, which would help write chat responses or suggest restaurants to go on dates.

How Tinder's new Game Game works - Softonic

Tinder's new Game Game lets users practice flirting with AI characters in voice-based scenarios, complete with feedback and ratings to improve their charm. Tinder has launched an experimental AI-powered feature called Game Game, letting users practice flirting in voice-based conversations with artificial personas. Built on GPT-4o, the feature offers simulated meet-cute scenarios designed to test and improve your charm -- without the fear of real-life rejection. While it might sound like an April Fool's joke, it's already available in the iOS app for users in the U.S. To access Game Game, users tap the Tinder logo, where they're presented with fictional characters and playful settings, like accidentally swapping suitcases at the airport. You speak out loud to the AI, and it responds in real time with distinct voices, accents and cadences, creating the feeling of a natural back-and-forth. What sets this experience apart is the live feedback mechanism that rates your performance. The AI doesn't just give you a pass or fail; it guides you -- suggesting less sarcasm or encouraging more expressiveness if needed. Based on your interaction, you're awarded a rating using a three-flame system that gamifies the experience. While the tool may come off as gimmicky to some, the concept touches on real user anxieties around dating. Practicing in a low-pressure, judgment-free space could help users feel more confident in real encounters. However, limitations remain: conversations can feel canned at times, and content filters may be overly restrictive. Still, Game Game blends AI and entertainment in a way that could redefine dating app dynamics, especially if the feature is expanded beyond its current limited release.