Artificial intelligence may one day make swiping right on Tinder a thing of the past. Sean Rad, Tinder’s co-founder and chairman, told attendees at the Startup Grind conference on Tuesday that in five years time, users may simply pick up their phone and ask Siri to match them with someone.
“Tinder would do all the work for you,” Rad said in an on-stage interview at the Fox Theater in California. “It’s a little scary to think that would happen, but I think it’s inevitable.”
Phones currently involve a lot of swiping and scrolling to get the right information, but Rad thinks that as we start to use our phones to access more data, the way we interact with them will start to change as well. Phones will become smart enough to provide the answer you’re looking for, rather than requiring users to wade through a bunch of screens to work out what’s going on.
“I think a lot about how we can use A.I. to transform dating in the next five years,” Rad said.
In the case of Tinder, Rad sees a future where someone can ask Siri what’s going on tonight, and the voice assistant will know how to interact with the dating app and use A.I. to come up with an intelligent answer.
“The Tinder voice might pop up and say, ‘There’s someone down the street that we think you’re going to be attracted to Sean, and she’s also attracted to you, and guess what, she’s free tomorrow night! And we know you both like this indie band, and it’s playing, so would you like us to buy you tickets?,’” Rad said.
Tinder may also one day use augmented reality to change dating, but Rad warned that the technology currently suffers from the lack of a socially acceptable product. Google Glass, released in 2013, gave birth to the term “glasshole” as users were seen ignoring the outside world to talk to their headgear. Any product that places a piece of glass between the user and the world would have to overcome that stigma.
Rad did, however, say that technologies like augmented reality could have a big effect on dating technology. “The impact is profound as these devices get closer to their senses,” he said.
Watch the interview with Rad here (starts at 7 hours 45 minutes):
