Hinge is rolling out a new AI feature called Convo Starters, designed to help daters move past bland openers and stalled matches. Instead of another “Hey” or “How are you?”, the app now suggests customized ideas for what to say based on the other person’s profile.
The launch is the latest sign that AI is quietly reshaping how dating apps handle the most fragile part of the experience: the very first message.
How Convo Starters works inside Hinge
When you tap the heart to like someone in Hinge’s Discover feed, you’ll now see up to three conversation ideas sitting directly under that person’s photos and prompts. These tips are generated by an in-app AI system that analyzes the specific images and answers on a profile.
If your match is shown playing chess, for example, you might get nudges to ask about their favorite board games or how competitive they are, instead of defaulting to generic small talk. You still have to type the message yourself — the AI doesn’t spit out a pre-written line, it just gives you angles to run with.
The feature is optional and can be toggled in settings. Hinge says Convo Starters is initially available in the U.S., with ideas tuned by its in-house researchers and behavioral scientists to encourage open-ended, more personal questions.
Built from Hinge’s own data about what leads to dates
Convo Starters isn’t just a vibes play; it’s wired directly into Hinge’s own engagement stats. The company’s research shows that 72% of daters are more likely to consider someone when a like includes a message, and likes sent with a comment are twice as likely to turn into an actual date.
In early testing of Convo Starters, about 35% of users said the feature made them feel more confident reaching out, and overall they sent more comments with their likes. That confidence boost is exactly what Hinge is trying to tap into: people who want to come across as thoughtful but freeze when it’s time to type the first line.
The feature also builds on Prompt Feedback, another AI-driven tool Hinge launched earlier this year to give suggestions on how to improve profile answers without writing them for you. Together, the two features are meant to push conversations away from surface-level banter and toward more specific details about people’s lives.
Daters want help — but not a robot pretending to be them
Hinge is launching Convo Starters at a tricky moment for AI in dating. According to a Bloomberg Intelligence survey cited by TechCrunch, Gen Z users are actually less comfortable than older daters with using AI to write prompts or messages on their behalf. They’re wary of matches that feel too polished or obviously machine-generated.
That’s why Hinge is stressing that its tools don’t auto-compose messages. Both Convo Starters and Prompt Feedback are positioned as coaching features: they give ideas, not copy-and-paste text. The hope is that users feel supported without feeling like they’ve outsourced their personality to a bot.
It’s a middle ground compared with more aggressive AI experiments in dating, where some services let bots hold full small-talk conversations until a human decides to step in. Those might be efficient, but they raise obvious questions about authenticity and consent.
Match Group’s broader AI push
Hinge’s parent company, Match Group, has been steadily amping up its AI ambitions across its portfolio. The company is reportedly spending between $20 million and $30 million on AI efforts, which include recommendation systems, safety tools that remove bad actors, and profile-building helpers on apps like Tinder and others.
Convo Starters gives Match another concrete feature to point to as it pitches Wall Street on AI-driven growth, while also positioning Hinge as the “intentional” dating app that still respects users’ desire for real, human connection.
If it works the way Hinge hopes, the feature won’t replace flirting — it’ll just make it a little easier to send that first message that actually gets a reply.