AI in the Cutthroat World of Online Dating: Can Men Put Their Best Face Forward?

Seeking authentic profile photos

Marissa downloaded dating apps hoping to find love, but she increasingly looks for photos she believes were not made with AI. She asked that her surname be withheld for privacy.

Kathryn Coduto, a Boston University assistant professor who studies dating apps, said people want genuine connections and conversations. In an email to CBS News, she said AI may leave users more wary of people they do not know.

Coduto said daters have only seconds to catch someone’s attention, which can encourage them to make profile photos look better. She added that using AI to enhance pictures is not limited to men, though men appear more likely to do it.

Subtle edits and self-presentation

Lana Li, a Brooklyn dating consultant who writes the Substack “Love Me Like a Robot,” describes herself as a digital stylist. She uses AI to improve men’s dating-app photos, but says the images should still genuinely represent them.

Li also uses FaceApp to adjust facial expressions. She described changes such as slightly raising the corner of a person’s mouth to make him appear friendlier, and said she refused to work with a client who wanted to misrepresent himself.

A New York City man who used an edited image said he still looked like himself and did not want to catfish anyone. He told CBS News that the picture received the most likes, while noting that its position as the first image may have helped.

Platforms weigh AI disclosure

A Match Group policy says generative AI images, audio or video should not be used to misrepresent a dater or their intentions. Match Group owns Hinge, Tinder and other dating apps.

A company spokesperson told CBS News that Match Group is watching AI’s development and listening to users who want greater transparency, authenticity and confidence that they are interacting with a real person. The spokesperson said enforcement combines AI tools, human moderation, verification features and member reports. Depending on how serious a violation is, the company may permanently ban an account.

Uncertainty for people dating

As AI tools improve, it is becoming harder to tell genuine photos from images generated by AI models. That leaves daters weighing whether a polished image crosses a line. One woman described dating as already challenging and said AI adds another concern: deciding how much of it she is comfortable with.