Can an AI voice bot help you land a date? That's what Tinder is aiming for with a new game in collaboration with OpenAI.
On Tuesday, Tinder launched The Game Game, an experience designed to help you practice your conversation skills by talking to an AI voice, powered by OpenAI's GPT-4o model. The Game Game works by dealing you a "stack of cards," each card containing a different AI persona and "meet cute" scenario, like accidentally grabbing someone else's luggage at baggage claim. Your goal is to score a date or a phone number within the time limit. You'll also get a score based on a scale of three Tinder flame icons.
The time limit isn't just there to gamify the experience. "We built the time limit on purpose because this is just a warm up," said Devyn Simone, Tinder's relationship expert in residence, at the launch event. "This is just a game. It is not designed to replace human conversations. Instead, it's actually designed to encourage real conversations with real people in real life." There's also a limit of five games per day, lest you forget the real purpose of using Tinder as a dating app for matching with humans, not bots.
Tinder isn't the only dating app to bring in AI features. Hinge recently launched an AI prompt editor, Grindr is testing an AI wingman, and then there are apps like Rizz and WingAI that are basically AI agents dating on behalf of the user. However, unlike other AI dating app features that are text-based, Tinder's new game brings a sense of realism to practicing your game by using OpenAI's Advanced Voice Mode.
As part of the game, users are rewarded with points by saying flirty and engaging things that would normally keep a conversation going. "The AI rewards curiosity and warmth, listening, asking follow up questions," Simone said during the event. "It's not about being slick or having the best line, it's about being human." Additionally, The Game Game was built with social psychology frameworks that inform the scoring and give you tips and recommendations.
That said, the game isn't meant to be taken too seriously. "The Game Game is intentionally over the top—a low-stakes, playful experience that feels more like improv than a guide to perfect flirting," said a Tinder spokesperson in a follow up email. "It’s about helping people feel comfortable expressing themselves, not following a formula for success."
In other words, the point is to practice your skills in a risk-free environment so you can hopefully feel more confident for the real thing.
I was humbled by Tinder's Game Game
So what's it like to play The Game Game? At the event, I got to test it out. My meet cute was bumping into a lawyer AI persona at a busy mall. We chatted about what "he" was buying (legal books, because, ya know, he's a lawyer) and I made up something about buying an anniversary present for my parents.
The game flashed a warning saying I needed to ask more questions. "So what kind of law do you practice?" I said in a panic, and learned he was a corporate lawyer. As I found myself listening to a boilerplate response about why he liked corporate law, it suddenly felt very much like a real life dating scenario, complete with feigned interest and jilted small talk — both enhanced by the surreal premise that I was talking to a robot.
Our time together ran out before I was able to secure a date — maybe I should have pretended to be more interested in corporate law? Or maybe we just weren't a good match to begin with. But now I can say I've had the unique experience of getting romantically rejected by a bot. For the record, this particular session was on the highest difficulty level, so my ego is still barely in tact.
Did my flirting skills get better? With a time limit and a specific objective, I definitely tried harder to keep the conversation going, so I can see how one could improve after a few more sessions. But while I played the game, I found myself wondering how a human would respond differently to the conversation, which made the whole experience feel unrealistic.
But I guess that's the point. It's supposed to just be a game so you can get out there in the real world and talk to humans instead of bots.
