Algorithms and Attraction: Can Dating Apps Really Predict a Couple’s Chemistry?

You open Instagram, and you’re flooded with images of your friends’ picture-perfect love. You’ve been a bridesmaid for your best friend, your cousin, and maybe even your mom—on her third marriage. Throughout all these, you’re still single. Why?

Young adults are waiting to settle down because they value their careers and personal growth more than relationships. This is backed by a study from the Pew Research Center, which revealed that 29 percent of millennials do not feel financially prepared to be in a serious relationship, and 26 percent haven’t found someone with the right qualities.

Perhaps the latter is why dating and matchmaking services are abundant. Currently, you can find over 1,500 dating apps and websites used by around 15 percent of American adults, or 50 million. And the common denominator among these services? The use of an algorithm to find your “perfect” match.

Can You Math Your Way into Love?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come a long way from just being a 2001 science fiction film. Today, AI plays a significant role in your daily life.  It is there when you’re getting product recommendations based on your past shopping habits on retail websites. It shows you the shortest route to take when you’re driving to a place. It’s there even in the simple act of opening your phone with face ID.

AI is also responsible for finding potential matches for you on dating apps.

Most dating services claim to have found the formula for finding your perfect match. When you sign up for these apps, you’ll answer a bunch of questions about your likes, dislikes, and even your past relationships. Based on these answers, the app will show you profiles of people who also signed into the service, people that the algorithm deems may click with you. If they like you back—based on the minuscule information and a couple of photos you posted—you can start chatting and go from there.

However, what the “formula” these dating services use doesn’t seem to consider is that attraction and love are a mix of biological, chemical, and mental processes that cannot be quantified or predicted by artificial intelligence or any algorithm.

Algorithms and Attraction

Fortunately, you’re not the first one to wonder whether dating apps can truly predict who your life partner is going to be. To shed light on this topic, University of Utah professor Samantha Joel conducted a study called “Is Romantic Desire Predictable? Machine Learning Applied to Initial Romantic Attraction.”

This study tested whether it’s possible to predict couples who will match based on their preferences using a cutting-edge machine learning algorithm. After answering a questionnaire about more than 100 traits and preferences, the participants went on a speed-dating event and rated their interactions with each person they met. Their answers were compared to the predictions from the algorithm.

According to Joel, “I thought that out of more than 100 predictors, we would be able to predict at least some portion of the variance. I didn’t expect we would find zero.”

Helping You Meet Your Perfect Match

While it would be amazing not to have to go through the different challenges of dating, no application can show you The One. It takes real connection that can go past virtual and into personal.

This is precisely what LUMA Luxury Matchmaking aims to give you. With our personalized luxury matchmaking method, you don’t need to rely on an algorithm you don’t understand. Instead, we introduce you to the right person and help you succeed along the way.

Become a member and find your match today.