Could having an AI wingman help you score? Grindr thinks so

Artificial Intelligence is taking over more and more of our everyday lives, but now, instead of taking our jobs, the evolving technology wants to help us hook up.

Gay hookup app Grindr is developing an AI “wingman” that will help users have a smoother experience when interacting with other users and setting up dates, LGBTQ+ Nation reports.

While users would interact with the new technology much like the AI chatbots we’re all familiar with, the wingman would do much more, like track conversations with “favorite” users, help you pick out potential candidates for a long-term relationship, and even suggest date spots.

There will also be bot-to-bot interactions where a wingman could have a conversation with another wingman after their humans have matched, so that it can suggest conversation starters and could potentially spot relationship “deal-breakers” early on, which would save users a lot of time and energy.

“I always knew that AI was going to be a really big deal, and as we saw where generative AI was going, I realized, ‘A lot of this extension stuff can actually be done by AI’,” Grindr Chief Executive George Arison told the Wall Street Journal.

Grindr has hired AI model and avatar maker Ex-human to develop a “more gay” version of its normally straight “empathetic AI technology” that will utilize queer slang, sarcasm, and humor. Arison said that one day, the AI chatbot could even offer sexual and mental health advice.

The company decided to train the AI module in-house for fears that using a third party had the potential to breach sensitive user information, which would be especially damaging for users of a gay hookup app like Grindr. The app also hopes to earn user trust by asking for permission of the AI to access anyone’s chat history, LGBTQ+ Nation reports.

This is an important step considering the tech company has a history of mismanaging user data. Back in July, Grindr was fined $6 million by a Norwegian court for unlawfully sharing sensitive user data with commercial companies, and in April, nearly 700 people sued the app for sharing HIV status’ without consent.

But Arison has hopes that the new wingman will not only help people find love, but could also help it’s LGBTQ+ clientele discuss their feelings. “Loneliness and depression are a really big problem for our community,” he said.