What Ex-Tinder boss thinks about the future of dating

Renate Nyborg was Tinder’s first female CEO, although she left the popular dating app with a mission to use technology to combat loneliness. 

As a result, she is launching a new app, Meeno, that utilises artificial intelligence (AI) to help solve relationship problems. She also predicts that the future will be less about online dating and more about real-life encounters.

My Wildest Prediction is a brand new podcast series from Euronews Business where we dare to imagine the future with business and tech visionaries. In this first episode, Tom Goodwin discusses with Renate Nyborg her wildest predictions on love and chatbots.

Is Gen Z ready to find a partner outside of dating apps?

Over 300 million people use dating apps worldwide, according to a 2023 report by Business of Apps. To visualise this figure, it’s almost the entire population of the US and half of Europe’s population.

Born a decade ago, Tinder is the crown jewel of the online dating ecosystem. Tinder users account for 75 million.

Contrary to what the numbers suggest, the trend might not be heading toward an increase.

“A huge trend that we’ve seen in the last few years is Gen Z in particular, so 18 to 25-year-olds, really willing to meet people organically”, says Renate Nyborg. “And in fact, that’s happening increasingly.”

She adds: “All of the people that I speak to aged 18 to 25 like their biggest dream is to meet someone quite organically.”

How can AI help us feel less lonely?

Loneliness is a modern epidemic.

According to a 2023 report on loneliness commissioned by the European Commission, at least one in 10 European Union residents feels lonely most of the time.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the situation. In the first EU-wide loneliness survey involving 25,000 people, 13 percent of EU residents reported feeling lonely most or all of the time.

A Pew Research study revealed that 42% of adults surveyed in the US said they had felt lonely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nyborg was the CEO of Tinder during the COVID pandemic and is now launching a new app, Meeno, not focused on online dating but on relationship coaching.

Meeno serves as your personal mentor, distinct from a virtual girlfriend, boyfriend, clinical therapist, or coach. 

According to Nyborg, it acts as a mentor to help you become your best self, much like Remy from Disney’s Ratatouille. Instead of assisting with cooking, however, Meeno guides you in understanding relationships.

Nyborg says that what is particularly interesting is observing the generation of people who built some of those apps “moving out to build apps or products that help you return to a real-life connection.”

Nyborg emphasises that she has dedicated her entire life to combating loneliness.

“For me, loneliness is really the greatest battle we’ll fight in our lifetime, in addition to the climate crisis,” she says. “If we stop having close friends, being in relationships, having children, etc., that is an existential threat to who we are and what will be.”