Hinge is using AI to help people date better — but not to date a chatbot
"I don't think that an AI chatbot should be your friend or certainly not your boyfriend or girlfriend," Hinge CEO Justin McLeod said in an episode of the "Rapid Response" podcast published on Tuesday.
In contrast, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a May podcast that the average American now has fewer than three close friends and that digital chatbots could help cure this "loneliness epidemic."
Hinge is owned by Match Group, which also operates dating apps like Tinder and OKCupid. In 2018, Match acquired Hinge, which McLeod cofounded in 2011.
"One of our principles around AI is that it really should stand behind us and not between us," McLeod said.
He said the app is designed so that users can have better interactions on the app and meet in person faster.
"But it certainly shouldn't be something that we start engaging with as an end in itself just for entertainment or, I would say, artificial intimacy or artificial connection."
Hinge's website says that the company uses AI in two main ways. It recommends personalized matches based on each dater's previous interactions and preferences, such as age, distance, and family plans. AI also helps users improve their profiles and makes it easier to start conversations.
"We don't want to put words in their mouths," McLeod said on the podcast. "It's just recognizing that someone's answer to a prompt could give us more detail. And honestly usually the response is, 'Can you say more about that,' or 'Tell a little bit more why that's true.'"
On Wednesday, Business Insider created a new profile on the app and used the AI feature to ask for feedback on our answers to conversation-starting prompts. We found one instance of the AI asking to improve responses, and another where it complimented our answer for being fun and interesting.
Hinge's prompt: "Together we could"
Our response: "Learn a sport together."
AI suggestion: "Try a small change. If you want to add more, consider sharing which sport you'd like to learn or asking about their favourite sports."
Hinge's prompt: "I'm weirdly attracted to"
Our response: "People very passionate about long, nerdy movie franchises"
AI suggestion: "Great prompt! It showcases your unique interests and invites fun conversations."
Match Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hinge is 'crushing it'
Hinge has become a bright spot in the dating app industry, which is struggling to compete with app fatigue and the growing preference for in-person interactions.
On an earnings call earlier this month, Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff said that Hinge is an example of what can be achieved with a motivated team and a great product.
"Simply put, Hinge is crushing it," Rascoff said. "Hinge's success should put to rest any doubts about whether the online dating category is out of favor among users."
"Hinge's success gives me pride in Hinge, but also confidence in Tinder," the Match CEO added.
The dating app's paying users grew by 18% year over year to 1.7 million, and revenue per paying user grew 6% to nearly $32. Hinge generated $168 million in revenue in the second quarter, a 25% increase from the same time last year.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Wire
4 minutes ago
- Business Wire
Burger King® Introduces the Latest 'Whopper® by You' With a Crispy Onion Twist on the Classic
MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following the BBQ Brisket Whopper – the first innovation in the newly launched 'Whopper by You' platform – Burger King is giving Guests an all-new take on the flame-grilled classic inspired by their cravings, and it's a bacon and onion lover's dream. With layers on layers of flavor, the Crispy Onion Whopper is the ultimate mix of sweet, savory and crunch that BK fans have been asking for. The Crispy Onion Whopper features more than ¼ lb.** of beef flame-grilled to perfection topped with crisp lettuce, juicy tomatoes, creamy mayo, melty American cheese, bacon and crunchy pickles with golden onion rings, crispy onions and a sweet & smoky BBQ sauce. For a smaller taste of crunchy, onion-y deliciousness, BK is also offering the latest Whopper innovation as a Whopper Jr. – similar to the BBQ Brisket Whopper. 'Burger King Guests have been loving the recently launched BBQ Brisket Whopper, so we're excited to bring another Guest-inspired creation to our menus,' said Joel Yashinsky, Chief Marketing Officer, Burger King US&C. 'Like the BBQ Brisket Whopper, the Crispy Onion Whopper is a result of listening to our Guests, and we can't wait to see what else they come up with that could make its way to BK restaurants in the future.' Guests can continue to share their next great Whopper innovations via the 'Whopper by You' platform by visiting With each qualifying submission, Guests can redeem one of several special Royal Perks rewards assigned at random, including $0.01 Whopper sandwich each week for a year, free hamburgers, cheeseburgers, or Whopper Jr. sandwiches with purchase, and more.*** To find your nearest Burger King restaurant or to learn more about the new BBQ Brisket Whopper and 'Whopper by You' platform, visit *Limited time at participating US restaurants, while supplies last. **Weight based on pre-cooked patty ***Royal Perks account registration required. Must be 18+. U.S. only. Terms apply. See ABOUT BURGER KING ® Founded in 1954, the Burger King ® brand is a global quick service hamburger chain known for food quality and value and as the only place guests can get the iconic flame-grilled Whopper ® sandwich. The Burger King system operates more than 19,000 locations in more than 120 countries and U.S. territories. Nearly all Burger King® restaurants are owned and operated by independent franchisees, many of them family-owned operations that have been in business for decades. To learn more about the Burger King brand, please visit the official brand website at or the newsroom at and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok.
NBC News
5 minutes ago
- NBC News
Target names longtime insider Michael Fiddelke its next CEO as retailer tries to break sales and stock slump
Target on Wednesday said that company veteran Michael Fiddelke will become its next CEO at a critical point in its effort to break out of a sales slump and win back Wall Street's favor. Fiddelke, the company's 49-year-old chief operating officer and former chief financial officer, will succeed Brian Cornell effective Feb. 1. Cornell, who took the helm of the cheap chic retailer in 2014, will transition to the role of executive chair on Target's board of directors. The Minneapolis-based retailer made the announcement on the same day it reported fiscal second-quarter results. It topped Wall Street's quarterly sales and earnings expectations, but stuck by a full-year outlook that forecasts another annual sales decline. Target shares dropped about 10% in premarket trading after the company made the CEO announcement and released results. Before Target announced its choice, Wall Street appeared to favor an outsider for the top job. Fiddelke steps into Target's top role as the big-box retailer tries to find its footing and get back to growth. Target's annual sales have been roughly flat for the past four years after the company's sales soared during the Covid pandemic. On a call with reporters, Fiddelke said he is 'stepping in with urgency to rebuild momentum and return to profitable growth.' He laid out three priorities: Reestablishing Target's reputation as a retailer with stylish and unique items, providing a more consistent customer experience and using technology more effectively to operate an efficient business. 'We've built a solid foundation, and we're proud of the many ways that Target is unique in American retail,' he said. 'We also have real work in front of us.' Fiddelke is a 20-year Target veteran. During his decades with the company, he has held leadership roles across merchandising, finance, operations and human resources. He became Target's chief financial officer in late 2019 and stepped into the role of chief operating officer in early 2024. In May, he was tapped to oversee a new effort, the Enterprise Acceleration Office, created to turn around Target's results. Target cut its full-year outlook in May and reiterated that guidance on Wednesday, saying that it expects a low-single-digit percentage point decline in sales this fiscal year. Target's performance has shaken Wall Street's confidence. Shares of the company have tumbled about 60% since their all-time high in 2021. Target's stock had dropped 22% in 2025 alone as of Tuesday's close. Customers, former employees and suppliers told CNBC that the company's best-known traits of eye-catching merchandise, tidy stores and friendly employees have become weaker. The retailer also is facing stiffer competition from rivals including Walmart, contending with cost pressures because of tariffs and dealing with backlash to its reversal of key diversity, equity and inclusion policies. And last week, Ulta Beauty and Target announced they are ending a deal that opened mini beauty shops in nearly a third of Target's stores. The partnership will end in August 2026. Wall Street had favored an outsider for the CEO job, according to a June survey of 51 investors by Mizuho Securities, an equity research firm. About 96% of investors polled favored an external hire for Target's next CEO. Christine Leahy, lead independent director of Target's board of directors, said in a news release that the board chose Fiddelke after 'an extensive external search and assessment of many strong candidates' over several years. 'Michael's tenure gives him unmatched enterprise insight and a base of strong team trust,' she said. 'But what sets him apart is how he combines those strengths with a 'fresh eyes' mindset, challenging the status quo to evolve how the business operates, differentiates and delivers long-term value.' On a call with reporters, Cornell and Fiddelke were asked what they would say to investors who had hoped for Target to hire an outsider who would bring fresh ideas. Fiddelke answered the question. 'I understand this business,' he said. 'I understand what makes Target distinctly unique. And I've seen us at our best, and I've seen us when we're not at our best, and that informs my candid assessment today of where we have work to do as well.' 'But I'll go back to some of what I started with: My number one goal is to get us back to growth.'
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Homebuyers made a huge mortgage gamble. It's backfiring spectacularly.
Matt Hutton was living the millennial homeowner dream. He scrimped and saved until he was able to buy his first place in 2019, paying $324,000 for a two-bedroom townhome in a suburb west of Denver. When mortgage rates dropped to record lows during the pandemic, he refinanced to slash his interest costs. Then home values ballooned, enabling him to sell in August 2024 for a gain of roughly $150,000 in just about five years. Hutton and his wife parlayed those earnings into their own slice of the American dream: a bigger, newly built single-family house on a premium lot. Shop Top Mortgage Rates Your Path to Homeownership A quicker path to financial freedom Personalized rates in minutes But Hutton's gilded path soon morphed into a cautionary tale. The house itself was nice, with fresh appliances, ample light, and clear views of a lake just beyond the property. The couple started to notice some drawbacks, though. For one, Hutton's new commute sucked. "It took forever to get to the highway," the 34-year-old tells me. Simple trips demanded at least half an hour behind the wheel. The neighborhood was still a jumbled mess of construction, with hundreds of homes yet to be delivered. Even little stuff, like the sound of the wind whipping outside, got annoying. By January, only a few months after they'd closed on the house, Hutton and his wife were already starting to talk about moving. Their dissatisfaction left them in a bind. Buying and selling so quickly is usually a recipe for financial loss — real estate agents pretty much always recommend staying put for at least a few years to make up for all the transaction costs. Plus, the Denver-area market softened considerably over the past two years, with more homes sitting for sale as buyers started biding their time. But there was one big issue that put Hutton in an especially bad spot. In lieu of cutting the actual list price, the builder of his current home had thrown in $30,000 worth of incentives to lure buyers like Hutton. The bulk of the deal sweetener came in the form of a "mortgage rate buydown," a financing maneuver in which the builder fronts some cash to help buyers get a lower borrowing rate from the builder's in-house lender, often for just a few years. The incentive is supposed to allow buyers to stretch their budgets and soften the blow of higher mortgage rates. Some takers are betting that they'll be able to refinance for better loan terms before their mortgage snaps back to the full rate. Homeowners who got temporary buydowns in 2022 or 2023 have seen their gamble on rates fail spectacularly. The typical mortgage rate still hovers above 6.5% — roughly around the levels that many buyers back then were hoping to dodge. Given the slowing market, industry analysts, and even some executives, warn that these homeowners could see little in the way of equity gains before the full cost of the mortgage hits. If those buyers try to turn around and sell soon, they may end up having to slash the price just to push a deal through. Hutton's predicament is an example of the pain that could be in store for others who made a similar tradeoff, agreeing to a higher sticker price in exchange for lower interest payments. Rick Palacios Jr., the director of research at John Burns Research and Consulting, has been sounding the alarm about the growing risks for buydown takers since last summer. "People are going to start putting those homes back into the market," Palacios tells me, "and I think it's going to be a bit of a shock to them, what they have to reprice at." The steep rise in mortgage rates in 2022 caused all kinds of havoc for the housing market. Buyers retreated to the sidelines or searched for workarounds that would stave off the pain of higher monthly payments. Sellers had to get real about the fact that they might not get the flood of attention, let alone offers, that listings enjoyed in 2021. And builders found themselves in a tricky spot. After seeing all the demand in the early days of the pandemic, they'd started work on a ton of new houses. With the market grinding to a halt, they'd have to figure out some way to unload them once they were completed. The answer, in many cases, was a buydown. The deals offered an elegant solution for buyers mourning the fact that they'd missed out on the rock-bottom, sub-3% mortgage rates that everyone scored earlier in the pandemic. "Without something along those lines, the market would've been almost completely frozen in that price range," Lydia Creasey, Hutton's real estate agent, tells me. On their websites, builders touted borrowing rates well below the prevailing levels, keeping sales moving by enticing buyers with cheaper monthly payments. By December 2022, three-quarters of builders surveyed by John Burns Research and Consulting said they were offering buydowns. Regular sellers don't typically offer this maneuver to buyers. But for builders who could afford to eat the cost — while conveniently steering buyers to their in-house lenders — buydowns represented "a silver bullet," John Burns analysts wrote in late 2023. "It really saved their business," Palacios tells me. In a normal housing downturn, he says, builders would have started cutting prices on their homes. The rate buydowns, though, were "like a mouse trap that allowed them to not have to adjust price." There are a few ways a buydown can work. One option is the permanent buydown: The builder agrees to pay around 5% or 6% of the sale price to lower the mortgage rate for the entire 30-year loan, usually by one or two percentage points. Let's say someone takes out a $400,000 loan at a time when the typical rate is around 6.5% (pretty close to today's prevailing rates). If the builder buys down the rate to 5%, the buyer would be saving almost $400 every month. The initial outlay may be relatively low — in this example, about $24,000 — but over the length of the 30-year loan, the borrower's savings would come out to almost $140,000. Homebuilders and their mortgage companies are cool with this deal because they've often locked up cheap money that they can use for the loans, and because they don't want to get stuck with a bunch of homes on their books. Plus, they really don't want to cut prices, since doing so would tank the values of all the other homes nearby. The other popular option is a temporary deal, which usually comes in the form of a "2-1 buydown." The builder sets aside cash to lower the buyer's mortgage rate by two percentage points for the first year and one point for the second year, after which it bumps up to the prevailing rate at the time of the home purchase. Again, let's say the prevailing rate is around 6.5%. A buyer with a 2-1 rate buydown would get a rate of 4.5% in the first year, 5.5% in the second, and 6.5% from there on out. If they took out a $400,000 loan, they'd be saving more than $500 every month that first year and more than $250 a month in the second year. That's a total savings of more than $9,000. In theory, this would allow a buyer to stretch their budget a little further to get the place they want, while also giving them some flexibility to refinance down the line if rates drop. "The thing with residential real estate is that it's not about the investment," Eric Agar, an executive at the California-based brokerage firm Pardee Properties, tells me. "It's about your lifestyle. It's about your family. It's about you being at a home that you love. And if that allows you to do it today, instead of a year from now or two years from now, well, that's a huge pro." The popularity of these deals soared alongside mortgage rates. In April 2021, just 17% of mortgage borrowers got a permanent buydown of one percentage point or more, data from ICE Mortgage Technology, a real estate software firm, shows. By the same point in 2023, that share had surged to nearly 45%. Temporary buydowns are more niche — they accounted for almost 5% of mortgage originations in late 2023, but have mostly hovered in the low single digits over the past few years. Still, there's no denying the prevalence of buydowns in the world of newly built homes. Last fall, Zillow published the results of a survey showing that 45% of buyers who purchased a home in the past year nabbed a mortgage rate below 5%, despite rates trending significantly higher. More than a third of those buyers said they got a lower rate because the seller or homebuilder offered them a deal on the mortgage. Both permanent and temporary buydowns come with potential pitfalls, but people who agreed to time-limited incentives are starting to face a particularly harsh reality. To be clear, short-term buydowns aren't the reckless, adjustable-rate mortgages that fueled the housing bubble in the early 2000s — buyers who snag these deals have to prove they'd be able to handle the maximum amount they'll end up paying after the interest rate snaps back. But being technically able to pay that extra money and actually shelling it out each month are two different things. There are still plenty of ways for buydown takers to end up in hot water. With temporary buydowns, some agents and analysts warn that fresh homeowners may be counting on rates dropping in the near future, allowing them to refinance to a new, cheaper loan before their payments bump up to the normal level. For buyers who got into the market two or three years ago, those dreams are fading fast. There's also the issue of lifestyle creep — if someone is used to saving a few hundred bucks on their loan each month, the jump to the full amount could be a bitter pill to swallow. Last summer, though, Palacios began warning of a more dire scenario. His concern was aimed at buyers who got a buydown — permanent or temporary — a few years ago and are now looking to sell for one reason or another, like a new job, new kid, marriage, or divorce. These homeowners face a decidedly weaker market. Many areas of the country, particularly construction hotbeds like the Sun Belt, have more homes sitting for sale than at any point since the onset of the pandemic. The typical mortgage rate has yet to slide in a meaningful way. Home prices are up less than 2% nationwide from a year ago, data from the real estate firm Redfin shows, and major metros like Houston, Austin, and Jacksonville recently posted year-over-year price declines. While buyers in 2022 or 2023 might have been willing to accept higher prices in exchange for savings on their monthly payments, they usually can't pass along those benefits to the next owner of the house. If they want to get a deal done, they might have to either cut that once-inflated price or pay tens of thousands of dollars to offer a rate buydown to the next buyer. An executive at KB Home, one of the nation's largest builders, recently said in an earnings call that many customers are "overpaying" for homes that offer these incentives, suggesting they could have a harder time clearing a profit in the future. "They're tied into this higher price that they're going to be stuck with forever until they sell that home." If you so much as dipped your toe into the housing market sometime in the past few years, there's a good chance you encountered the phrase, "Marry the house, date the rate." The mantra got plenty of airtime when mortgage rates spiked in 2022 — the prevailing sentiment among agents, lenders, and real estate execs was that the jump in rates would soon blow over. Don't stress too much, the logic went, because you can always refinance when rates drop back down. Better to just find a good place while you can. That mindset has so far turned out to be wishful thinking. And while there haven't yet been signs of widespread strain in the market, homeowners who got a buydown just a few years ago may be facing a significant jump in their monthly payments or the prospect of selling for far less than they'd hoped. "I'm hearing more and more stories of buyer's remorse," says Jess Uphoff, a mortgage lender who previously worked for a homebuilder. Not long ago, a temporary buydown seemed like a win-win: Builders could keep list prices higher while still passing along savings to buyers in the form of lower monthly payments. But if one of those buyers is trying to sell now, they'll likely be competing against the same builder who sold them their home — "only the builder has been steadily lowering prices or layering on new incentives." Uphoff says. "That means homeowners often can't resell for what they originally paid." At the end of May, for example, the homebuilding giant Lennar said its average incentive per home had stretched to nearly $60,000, up from $44,000 a year prior. Rate buydowns aren't always a trap for buyers. People who got a permanent buydown a few years ago may feel pretty good about that decision, given that rates haven't yet dropped significantly. But Lauryn Dempsey, a real estate agent in the Denver area, says she counsels buyers to make sure they'll be staying in the home for at least five to seven years if they get one of these deals. "Where I'm running into challenges right now is with the people who bought a couple of years ago that want to sell," Dempsey tells me. "I'm bringing estimated net proceeds that have negative numbers attached to them, so the seller has to bring cash to the closing. And I know I'm not alone in that right now." Hutton, the homeowner in the Denver area, fell into this camp. He and his wife paid nearly $800,000 for their new house in 2024, while the builder bought down the mortgage rate by about one percentage point. That may not sound like a lot, but that meant they were paying hundreds of dollars less in interest every month. The Huttons won't be sticking around to enjoy those benefits, though. When I talked to Hutton in mid-August, he and his wife had just closed on the sale of their home, his second in roughly a year. They managed to sell the house for $800,000 — almost exactly what they paid for it, but down from their original asking price of $850,000, which factored in some of the additional upgrades they'd made to the place. The buyer also requested that the Huttons pay $40,000 for a rate buydown to match the terms the builder was offering for other new homes nearby. They agreed to the deal. Hutton says he worried that if they wavered on a sale much longer, they'd only have more new homes in the neighborhood to compete with, each of them offering a bevy of incentives. "The interest rates were killing us, because no one was buying with that," Hutton tells me. "So the only way for me to get my house sold was to offer an incentive, pretty much." Hutton walked away from his first sale with six figures in his pocket. Roughly a year later, after the latest transaction, all that money is gone. His agent, Lydia Creasey, even dipped into her commission to cut the buyer a check for $350 at the closing table — a rare scenario, she says, owing to the unusual circumstances of the deal. "It was the right thing to do in this situation," Creasey tells me. Hutton and his wife are now living in an apartment, biding their time until they're ready to take another stab at finding their dream home. "I won't jump the gun," Hutton says. "I'm going to make sure to do my homework." James Rodriguez is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Discourse team. Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
