Hinge Uses AI to Boost Gen Z Confidence: What Founders Need to Know

A generation that grew up with smartphones is now struggling to navigate the dating world without digital assistance. According to Hinge's chief executive, young singles are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence to help them overcome social anxiety and start romantic conversations, a phenomenon that reflects broader changes in how people socialize and connect.

Hinge chief executive Jackie Jantos has said that many single people in their 20s are using artificial intelligence tools to start conversations on dating apps because they lack the confidence more common among older generations. Speaking on the BBC's Big Boss Interview podcast, Jantos said Gen Z users "absolutely want love" but are "struggling to have the confidence to put themselves out there" as they socialise less face-to-face than previous cohorts. Gen Z accounts for more than half of Hinge's monthly active users.

Jantos pointed to data showing that people of this age group now spend around 1,000 fewer hours a year in the physical company of others compared with those of the same age two decades ago. She described this as more than two hours a day typically spent on phones rather than with other people, contributing to loneliness. Almost half of Gen Z adults in the UK report feeling lonely "often or always," she said. The Covid pandemic, she added, interrupted formative years when many would have practised in-person social skills, flirting and intimacy.

How AI Features Are Reshaping Dating Apps

Hinge, founded in 2012 and owned by Match Group (which also owns Tinder and Match.com), offers an AI feature that generates conversation prompts and another that reviews profiles and suggests improvements. Jantos defended the tools, saying they are "not about writing words for you" but about "helping you express who you are." She rejected the idea that they encourage users to outsource dating to AI, describing them instead as confidence-building aids.

Gen Z users "absolutely want love" but are "struggling to have the confidence to put themselves out there" as they socialise less face-to-face than previous cohorts.

The company has continued to expand its UK user base. Ipsos iris data show 1.5 million adults used Hinge in the year to May 2025, up from 1.4 million the previous year. Over the same period Tinder's audience fell from 1.9 million to 1.5 million, leaving the two apps roughly level. Bumble and Grindr rank next. Hinge markets itself with the slogan "designed to be deleted," which Jantos said reflects a genuine aim of helping users form long-term relationships rather than keeping them on the platform indefinitely.

Growing Fatigue With Digital Dating

Relationship researchers and matchmakers have noted wider fatigue with dating apps. Dr Carolina Bandinelli, associate professor at the University of Warwick, said the pandemic reinforced the sense that apps were the main way to meet people, but that the sector is now "past the hype." Apps promised access to a large pool of potential partners and reduced risk of rejection, yet the absence of social cues often leaves users "guessing" rather than choosing, she said.

Apps promised access to a large pool of potential partners and reduced risk of rejection, yet the absence of social cues often leaves users "guessing" rather than choosing.

AI provides a way to automate part of the process and can soften the blow of an ignored message if it wasn't written by the user themselves. This technological assistance addresses both practical concerns about crafting the right message and emotional vulnerabilities around rejection. However, it also raises questions about authenticity and whether relying on AI might further reduce opportunities to develop the social skills that young people are already struggling to build.