In a press release written with help from ChatGPT, Match Group announced an enterprise agreement with the AI chatbot’s maker, OpenAI. The new agreement includes over 1,000 enterprise licenses for the dating app giant and home to Tinder, Match, OKCupid, Hinge, and others. The AI tech will be used to help Match Group employees with work-related tasks, the company says, and come as part of Match’s $20 million-plus bet on AI in 2024.
While press releases, by their nature, tend to be the enthusiastic sharing of company news, the ChatGPT-penned release is a bit over the top, saying things like how ChatGPT promises to “be the wingman…employees didn’t know they needed,” how the CTO “couldn’t contain his enthusiasm” when offering the canned quote, and it included a line about AI safety that reads, “our love story with AI comes with a promise of responsibility — think of it as a prenup with the technology.” Groan!
It even offered a quote from ChatGPT itself: “I’m thrilled that Match Group matched with me. Together, we’re not just breaking the ice; we’re melting it, and reshaping the way work gets done.” Bleh!
Who knew we’d miss the human-driven editorial work that went into penning these company missives, previously?
As for the news itself, Match Group says it will begin using the AI tech, and specifically ChatGPT-4, to aid with coding, design, analysis, build templates, and other daily tasks, including, as you can tell, communications. To keep its corporate data protected, only trained and licensed Match Group employees will have access to OpenAI’s tools, it noted.
Before being able to use these tools, Match Group employees will also have to undergo mandatory training that focuses on responsible use, the technology’s capabilities, as well as its limitations. The use will be guided by the company’s existing privacy practices and AI principles, too. The comapny declined to share the cost of the agreement or how it will impact the tech giant’s bottom line, but Match believes that the AI tools will make teams more productive.
Match execs recently spoke of the company’s plans for AI during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings, noting that, this year, the app maker will use AI technology to both evolve its existing products and build new ones. The company’s Shareholder letter explained how AI could help to improve various aspects of the dating app journey. For instance, it could help with profile creation, where Match is testing features like an AI-powered photo picker, and generative AI for help making bios. The company said that AI will also improve its matching abilities and post-match guidance, in areas like conversation starters, nudges, and offering date ideas.
“We expect [AI] to touch every aspect of our apps by improving profile quality, discoverability, and matching. And even more importantly, creating an even safer environment for our users to connect in,” CEO Bernard Kim told investors on the earnings call in late January.
“I believe that AI is existential to the future of Match Group and our business. AI will help us create improved user experiences and will truly make our products better,” Kim said at the time.
The company also suggested that it would use AI to build standalone AI-powered apps that it will begin testing in 2024.
A centralized innovation team will be working to integrate AI across Match’s portfolio of apps and incubating new ideas, with some of that work being handled by the team at Match acquisition Hyperconnect. (The company acquired Seoul-based Hyperconnect in 2021 for $1.73 billion, its biggest acquisition ever. However, the investment has yet to pay off in the form of a new breakthrough app as large or as popular as Tinder.)
Asked if Match would be now leveraging OpenAI tech in its broader AI initiatives across its portfolio, a rep for Match declined to answer.
However, the company had said it was investing $20 million to $30 million in AI innovation in 2024.
Sarah Perez can be reached at sarahp@techcrunch.com and Signal 415.234.3994.
