AI love, actually

Driving the news: Tinder is testing a new AI-powered feature called Chemistry that uses "deep learning" to analyze a user's photos in their camera roll, in order to understand their vibe and make better matches, the company said recently.

• Instead of the decades-old method of answering a long list of static queries to make better matches, Tinder says the new feature "gets to know users through interactive questions."

Zoom out: Once couples have made a match and decided to put a ring on it, 36% of people say they're actively using AI in their wedding planning, according to The Knot's 2026 future of marriage report. The percentage of people getting assists from the bots is up from 20% in the 2025 report.

• ChatGPT has also become Gen Z's new "divorce coach," says divorce attorney Jackie Combs, whose clients include Emily Ratajkowski, Chris Appleton, and Ines de Ramon.
• Combs says couples are using AI to draft separation agreements, decode legal jargon and help manage their post-divorce grief.

By the numbers: Relationships are big business.

• The global online dating market has been estimated around $10 billion. The "wedding industry" is a $100 billion-a-year business just in the U.S.

Between the lines: Some users are skipping the other human in the relationship altogether.

• The AI girlfriend and boyfriend businesses are booming, with some users creating their own bot companions in their teens or earlier.
• And why not? Bots are learning to be friendly, empathetic, self-reflective and even funny.

Reality check: AI optimists say that chatbots have the potential to improve our human relationships, but many signs raise caution.

• Some ex-spouses say ChatGPT was the cause of their divorce, citing one partner's dependence on the bot as driving a wedge between them.
• And be careful if you have a human relationship and keep an AI on the side. 40% of singles say this is cheating, per this year's Singles in America study by the Kinsey Institute and Match.
• One Reddit poster claims his wife-to-be left him at the altar when she realized he'd used ChatGPT to write his vows.

The other side: Using AI for organization, practical tasks, and sharing responsibilities can help relationships.

• The Knot has an AI tool that they've found can reduce wedding planning by 20 hours, the site's editorial director Esther Lee tells Axios.

Yes, but: While AI can assist with tasks like venue selection and budgeting, it's crucial to personalize vows and toasts to maintain authenticity, Lee says.

• Use your chatbot of choice for a template, Lee adds, but don't take it word for word. "Because guess what? Someone else could be reciting those same vows at another wedding, right down the road."

What we're watching: AI firms say chats are private and anonymized, but confusing settings have exposed personal conversations. Privacy experts warn monetization pressure could make that worse.

• Because of the huge sums of cash required to create and run AI models, tech companies will inevitably try to pay for them by selling our personal information, Signal president and privacy expert Meredith Whittaker told Axios last year.

The bottom line: Optimizing our relationships means sharing the most intimate details of our lives with companies that need to eventually make money somehow.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to say Esther Lee is The Knot's editorial director (not deputy editor).