All in the data: Trends from 3 million dating app messages generated by AI

Netherlands is the flirtiest country in the world. United Arab Emirate are the least flirty nation (surprise?). The most popular messages are funny and open-ended (lotsa question marks), and the winky face emoji still reigns supreme.

Back in 2022, we launched an AI app that offers suggestions for what to say on dating apps. Since launch - it’s generated over 3 million messages across 100 countries. In the post below, we dig into data.

The flirtiest countries

While some customers use the app for serious business like recruiting, the majority was (surprise) for dating apps. Given a choice between ‘flirty’, ‘friendly’, and ‘formal’ messages, 87% of users went with flirty messages. 

In the realm of AI-generated dating messages, the most-forward award goes to Netherlands, with a commanding 98% of messages leaning towards flirtation. Tanzania and Kenya closely follow, with New Zealand and Spain rounding out the top five. The US finds its place at a decent 92%, sitting between France and Germany. 

Measured romance

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the UAE takes the crown for "Least Likely to Send a Wink Emoji", with only 74% of its messages attempting to flirt. Pakistan, India, China, and Kazakhstan aren’t far behind, making the top 5 least flirty nations. If you're swiping in these regions, expect more "How's your day?" and less "How YOU doin'?"

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Most popular openers

Stick around dating apps long enough - and you’ll start to see the same messages pop up over and over again. While the best conversation starters tend to be personalized, sometimes you just don’t have anything to work with. If you generate an opener without any topic, we automatically suggest messages from a curated list of ones we’ve seen work well. In the absence of personalization - the best thing you can do to start a conversation is be funny or ask an open-ended question. Bonus points if you can pull of both.

Top starters copied by users were often simple, with the most common being:

1. Hey there! How’s your day going? 

The second most-copied text speaks to the awkwardness of trying to chat on dating apps.

2. I spent 20 minutes trying to think of a curated pickup line, but I didn’t want to keep you waiting any longer, so, hello. 🙂
3. On a scale from 1 to 10, you’re a 9 and I’m the one you’re missing. That was terrible, but hey what’s up?

My personal favorite is #4 in the spirit of starting interesting conversations.

4. If you had to wear a warning label on your head, what would it say?

Check out the rest below.

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Message content

Wrapping up the analysis - we looked at the defining characteristics of the messages sent. Compared to messages generated, the ones sent were more likely to include a question, and less likely to include an emoji. With 80% and 38% of messages sent including a question mark and emoji, respectively.