Can Artificial Intelligence Be a Matchmaker?

https://labusinessjournal.com/featured/can-artificial-intelligence-be-a-matchmaker/

Publish Date: 2026-04-06 18:05:00

When Carly Malatskey worked at venture firm Floodgate, she was dubbed “the dating app guru.”

Malatskey immediately received all proposals for dating app companies. She handled everything from filling out a 200-answer questionnaire to sifting through pitches advertised as “Hinge with a twist.”

“When I would see all of these dating startups at Floodgate, they were all truly a copy-paste of Bumble, Hinge and Tinder with a slight nuance,” Malatskey said. “But the nuance was never that remarkable because fundamentally the issue is still the same.”

In February, Malatskey founded Joey AI, an artificial intelligence-based matchmaking company based in Santa Monica. The firm isn’t necessarily a dating app. Users call a phone number, and an AI voice assistant – known as Joey – asks several questions before bidding them a good day and hanging up. There’s no profile to create. There’s no app to scroll on. One day, Joey may text a user when it thinks it has found a good match, and if both people are interested, it will connect them via text.

Founder: Carly Malatskey of Joey AI. (Photo by David Sprague)

So-called “dating app fatigue” – caused by confusing social rules, self-imposed pressures to look good and the endless cycle of fragile connections failing – is hurting companies’ financial results. In March, Bumble Inc. reported a 10% year-over-year revenue decline, attributed to waning engagement and fewer paid users. At Match Group, which owns West Hollywood-based Tinder Inc., total revenue was flat year over year.

However, it looks like artificial intelligence could be the key to reviving the struggling sector. Around 10% of all dating app companies are using AI today, according to PitchBook. As users find it harder to connect on dating apps, companies as big as Tinder and Grindr Inc. and as small as the nascent Joey AI are experimenting with the technology to make the process easier.

“The point isn’t ‘AI’ for its own sake,”…

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