Grindr Goes 'AI-First' as It Strives to Be an 'Everything App for the Gay Guy'

"Every Grindr user is unique. Italian men love feet. South Koreans prefer open relationships. The highest percentage of self-proclaimed "daddies" call the US home, and Switzerland is overrun with twinks. Delivered by annual trend report Grindr Unwrapped, those critical insights offer the type of information that will help usher the company into its "AI-first" era where it's "the everything app for the gay guy," CEO George Arison tells WIRED."

"Grindr was the first to leverage geo-location tech when it burst onto the scene in 2009. Arison arrived at the company in 2022 from the world of automotive ecommerce. With him at the helm, the company has undergone "a bit of a refounding," he says, including a major overhaul of staff-85 percent of its current 160 US employees were hired in the past three years-and bigger investments in product."

"All of his moves, he says, have been about building trust with users. Grindr may indeed be the most popular gay dating and hookup app in the world, but its popularity has only made it a target of controversy, including a 2024 lawsuit that alleged users' HIV status and testing information was shared with third-party vendors, and in July, criticism for blocking users who posted the phrase "no Zionists" in their profile. Skepticism over Arison's conservative politics probably hasn't helped either."

Grindr leverages aggregated trend data to identify regional user behaviors and to drive an "AI-first" strategy aimed at broadening its product offering. Leadership changes since 2022 have produced a major refounding with roughly 85 percent of U.S. staff hired within three years and increased investment in product. The company emphasizes rebuilding and maintaining user trust while confronting controversies, including a 2024 lawsuit alleging sharing of HIV status and testing information with vendors and criticism for blocking profiles using the phrase "no Zionists." A proposed $3 billion buyout by controlling shareholders collapsed when financing failed.

Read at WIRED