The roses are gone and heart-shaped boxes of chocolate have been consumed, and while the greeting cards may have been replaced, that doesn’t mean that love nor the business of dating and matching are not still in full swing. 

In fact, the dating industry is not only thriving but one of the biggest adopters in the latest technological innovations of our time. Market analysis into the online dating industry has taken off in the past five years, and it is about time we take a deeper dive into the technology behind modern love.

If you’ve ever been on a dating app, especially if you have a profile on one of the better-known ones, then there’s a good chance that you’re familiar with the process by now: You go to the app, scroll through dozens or even hundreds of profiles in order to find one that catches your eye. If you like what you see, you send them a message. Maybe they respond; maybe not. And if things go well, you meet in person and take it from there. That’s all fine and dandy, but does it really work? 

Several of today’s most prominent trends in AI, from personalization to user privacy, have been quietly filtering into the online dating industry. And somewhere along the way, these dating apps have actually become the ones setting the standards for what success looks like when it comes to impactful AI-powered user experiences.

The bedrock of any successful AI initiative is the right data. By now, dating apps have discovered that matching people purely based on their geographic location, age or other superficial details won’t cut it. Instead, they need to get at the heart of the matter.

With thousands or millions of people on any given dating app, it’s imperative that users don’t waste their time swiping on people who they’d never be interested in. AI can help highlight potential matches who are both active on the app and have similar preferences and interests in the hopes that every pairing could result in a meaningful connection. For instance, Hinge has a “Most Compatible” feature, which analyzes a user’s preferences and sends recommendations of matches that it thinks will be a particularly good fit. Coffee Meets Bagel shares a selection of curated profiles for users to look at each day at noon via their “smart algorithm,” and DNA Romance takes it one step further by matching users with potential partners based on genetics.

The question of user safety has long loomed over online dating, so some apps are leveraging AI to address this. AI can help instantly improve user safety online, and stop harassment before it starts. Several apps have already rolled out safety features. For instance, Tinder’s “Are You Sure?” algorithm scans messages and compares them against text that’s been reported for inappropriate language in the past. Similarly, researchers have reportedly designed AI that analyzes dating profiles and pinpoints potential fakes.

Sometimes inspiration comes from unexpected places. Dating apps could, perhaps surprisingly, help establish a larger industry standard for things like AI-powered personalization, efficiency and safety—which could provide a better user experience every step of the way. Other companies can and should take note: Everything from ensuring curated and safe social feeds to recommending videos to view and clothing to buy rests on precisely the same principles dating apps use to help people find “the one.” And clearly it’s working! Millions of people put their trust in these apps every day. As they continue to rewrite the script on how to leverage AI to create excellent customer experiences, I think it’s time to start embracing the shift and swiping right on their strategy.

Read more articles in our magazine