Tech
Tinder tries to lure people back to online dating with IRL events, virtual speed dating
Tinder held its inaugural product keynote on Thursday, unveiling an ambitious slate of updates designed to reinvigorate its product, bolster safety, and harness AI. This comes on the heels of Match Group’s $50 million investment in product development, announced last August, as the parent company looks to re-engage its user base and win over younger Gen Z daters.
Among the updates are innovative features for discovering in-person events and meeting people in real life, alongside a new virtual speed dating experience being tested in Los Angeles. Additionally, a series of AI enhancements were introduced to improve the matching algorithm and enhance user safety.
One of the most notable features is the new Events tab, which will be in beta for users in Los Angeles starting in late May or early June. This feature lets users discover curated local events— such as speakeasies, bowling, raves, and pottery classes — where they can connect with matches in person.
This is a nod to Gen Z’s growing appetite for real-world encounters over endless swiping. There has been a shift away from traditional dating apps, as young people seek authentic offline experiences or unconventional ways to meet potential partners. Other apps, like Breeze, 222, Timeleft, and Thursday, have also tapped into this in-real-life (IRL) trend.
“We’re really trying to tap into meeting younger users at the places where they’re already hanging out,” Hillary Paine, senior vice president of product at Tinder, told TechCrunch. “You can go to an event with your friend and have a good time, or you could meet somebody new. Instead of asking users to choose between their dating life and their social life, we’re trying to blend these things together and create a more social community first experience.”
Profiles of event attendees will be available on the app after the event for users to like and swipe through, a concept reminiscent of “Missed Connections” ads, allowing users who may have lacked the courage to approach someone or simply missed the opportunity to reconnect.
Speed dating is also experiencing a resurgence. To hop on the bandwagon, Tinder revealed it’s now piloting a video speed dating experience in LA, where users can join scheduled three-minute video chats with potential matches. This serves as a “vibe check,” designed to help people break the ice and gauge chemistry before committing to an in-person meeting.
The company noted that users will have the option to extend promising conversations beyond three minutes. Your profile photo has to be verified to join the experience.
Many daters appear to have become fatigued by video chats, making it intriguing to see if this experiment, introduced late in the game, will achieve success. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tinder launched a Face-to-Face feature that was later discontinued, indicating a decline in interest.
AI was also a major theme at the keynote.
Tinder is continuing to invest in the technology, starting with its “Chemistry” feature, which utilizes AI to learn about users through questions and, with their permission, their camera rolls. This feature curates daily matches to help reduce swipe fatigue and is now rolling out in the U.S. and Canada after initial testing in Australia and New Zealand.
In the future, aspects of Chemistry will grow from being just one feature into something that shapes the entire Tinder experience, making it more personalized, the company said.
Additionally, Tinder introduced a new “Learning Mode” that presents more relevant matches earlier on. The system is designed to quickly gain insights into what users are seeking in potential matches, adapting recommendations to better suit personal preferences. Previously, Tinder needed multiple swiping sessions to gather enough signals to personalize well.
With Learning Mode, Paine notes, it can start to understand a user from the very first session. She said, “We’re hoping that this is something that makes Tinder really feel like it understands you from the very first time you use it, or if you’re returning to Tinder after some time away, it feels like it gets me, and I don’t have to spend a lot of time telling Tinder what I’m looking for again.”
Tinder is also enhancing safety features like “Does This Bother You?,” which now uses large language models to better detect harmful messages and auto-blurs disrespectful content, while “Are You Sure?” prompts are being fine-tuned to more accurately identify potentially harmful interactions.
Visually, Tinder is getting a sleek redesign: edge-to-edge profile photos, a subtle blur effect, and a Liquid Glass aesthetic for the Like and Nope bar. New modes are also on the horizon: “Music Mode” will allow up to 20 Spotify songs to auto-populate a user’s profile, and “Astrology Mode” will let users add birth details to unlock their Sun, Moon, and Rising signs and check compatibility. This follows the recent launch of Double Date Mode and College Mode.
Overall, the slew of announcements signals a pivotal shift in Tinder’s approach. While Match reported a positive earnings result in Q4 2025, with $878 million in revenue, the company has faced consecutive quarters of declining paying subscribers. Consequently, it’s under pressure to retain users and restore investor confidence, even as its outlook remains cautious, acknowledging changing user preferences and heightened competition.
It remains to be seen whether these changes will help maintain daters’ interest in the app. However, one thing is clear: Tinder is making a significant commitment to the future of dating, shifting away from solely relying on swiping and adapting to what it believes its young users want.
Tech
ElevenLabs lists BlackRock, Jamie Foxx, and Eva Longoria as new investors
Voice AI company ElevenLabs revealed new investors that are part of its $500 million Series D fundraise, which was first announced in February. The additions include institutions such as BlackRock, Wellington, D.E. Shaw, and Schroders; enterprises like Nvidia, Salesforce Ventures, Santander, KPN, and Deutsche Telekom; and individual investors such as Jamie Foxx, Eva Longoria, and Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk.
The startup also noted that it surpassed $500 million in ARR (annual recurring revenue), after ending last year with nearly $350 million in ARR. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Mati Staniszewski, said last month that ElevenLabs added $100 million in net new ARR in Q1 2026, ending the quarter at roughly $450 million in ARR.
The company has also accelerated its valuation rapidly, growing from $6.6 billion last September to $11 billion this February.
“Voice is the highest-stakes channel for any customer interaction, and the bar for quality, latency, and security is extremely high. ElevenLabs is not just a category leader – it is becoming a foundational enabler of Deutsche Telekom’s broader Industrial AI vision. From voice-as-a-service to multilingual automation and in-network AI agents, we believe the company is uniquely positioned to reshape how businesses interact with customers across all channels,” Karine Peters, managing director at Deutsche Telekom’s venture arm T.Capital, said in a statement.
In the past quarter, the voice AI company has signed enterprise contracts with the likes of Deutsche Telekom, Revolut, and Klarna.
ElevenLabs said that, besides the fundraising, it also closed a $100 million tender, a second in roughly six months after the company issued one last September. Staniszewski said in a blog post that the company will give an opportunity to retail investors to invest in ElevenLabs through Robinhood Ventures, but didn’t provide details about the program.
Staniszewski noted that consumers won’t trust systems that sound robotic or “interact strangely” and emphasized the importance of building “human-level AI voice models.” Last month, the company acquired the team from Polish voice AI startup Papla to bolster its research team.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
Tech
Kaspersky suspects Chinese hackers planted a backdoor into Daemon Tools in ‘widespread’ attack
Security researchers at Kaspersky say they have identified a malicious backdoor planted in the popular and long-running Windows disc imaging software, Daemon Tools.
The Russian cybersecurity company said on Tuesday that data collected from computers around the world running the Kaspersky antivirus software shows a “widespread” attack is under way, targeting thousands of Windows computers running Daemon Tools.
The hackers, whom Kaspersky has linked to a Chinese-language speaking group based on an analysis of the malware, used the backdoor in Daemon Tools to plant additional malware on a dozen computers across the retail, scientific and manufacturing sectors, as well as government systems. Kaspersky said the hacking of these specific computers implied a “targeted” effort.
The company said the targeted organizations are located in Russia, Belarus, and Thailand.
Kaspersky said the backdoor was first detected on April 8.
Kaspersky said it had contacted Disc Soft, the company that maintains Daemon Tools, but did not say if the developer responded or took action. Kaspersky said the supply chain attack is “still active,” suggesting that the hackers can still plant malware on thousands of computers running the disc imaging software.
This is the latest in a string of so-called “supply chain” attacks that have targeted developers of popular software in recent months. Hackers are increasingly taking aim at the accounts of developers who work on widely used code and software, and abusing that access to push malicious code to anyone who relies on the software. This approach lets the hackers break into a large number of computers at once when their malicious code is delivered as a software update.
Earlier this year, hackers associated with the Chinese government hijacked the popular text editing software Notepad++ to deliver malware to a number of organizations with interests in East Asia. Security researchers also warned of another attack last month targeting users who visited the website of CPUID, which makes the popular HWMonitor and CPU-Z tools.
TechCrunch downloaded the Windows installer from Daemon Tools’ website, and the file appeared to contain the backdoor when we checked it with the online malware scanner service VirusTotal.
It’s not known if the macOS version of Daemon Tools was compromised, or if other apps made by Disc Soft are affected.
When contacted for comment, a Disc Soft representative said they are “aware of the report and are currently investigating the situation.”
“Our team is treating this matter with the highest priority and is actively working to assess and address the issue. At this stage, we are not in a position to confirm specific details referenced in the report. However, we are taking all necessary steps to remediate any potential risks and to ensure the security of our users,” the representative said.
Do you know more about the cyberattack targeting Daemon Tools users? Did you receive an antivirus alert saying you were affected? We want to hear from you. To contact this reporter securely, reach out via Signal username zackwhittaker.1337.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
Tech
Etsy launches its app within ChatGPT as it continues its AI push
Etsy announced Tuesday the launch of its native app within ChatGPT, opening up a new way for shoppers to explore its catalog of over 100 million listings.
The new experience is designed to move beyond the limitations of traditional keyword queries. Instead of typing something like “wooden coffee table,” then scrolling and adjusting filters, users can now express what they’re looking for in natural language. For instance, “Help me find a Mother’s Day gift under $100 for my mom who loves gardening.”
Now live in beta, the feature allows users to tag @Etsy directly within a prompt. From there, the Etsy app in ChatGPT surfaces relevant product listings that users can browse, compare, and click through to Etsy for additional details or purchase.
This isn’t Etsy’s first experiment inside ChatGPT. Back in September, Etsy became an early partner in ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout integration, which let users buy products directly inside the chat interface. However, the initiative ended in March, suggesting it didn’t perform as OpenAI had hoped. It was reported that Etsy didn’t see a large volume of sales from the integration, leading Etsy to start building a native app within ChatGPT instead.
Alongside this launch, Etsy also revealed it’s testing a beta conversational search experience within its platform, specifically geared toward helping users find gifts. The gift assistant acts as a personal shopper, offering a guided, conversational way to discover ideas, narrow down preferences, and surface relevant products.
This builds on Etsy’s broader AI push, which includes an AI-powered discovery experience featuring curated collections and a suite of seller tools, including a tool that helps generate product titles and descriptions, as well as a writing assistant to help draft messages to buyers. In 2024, Etsy introduced a new “Designed” label to identify AI content, part of an effort to increase transparency as AI-generated artwork becomes more prevalent on the platform.
The news of a ChatGPT integration comes a week after Etsy reported its Q1 2026 earnings, surpassing revenue expectations with $631 million, and marketplace gross merchandise sales were up 6% year over year. Notably, active buyers increased for the first time in two years to 86.6 million. Etsy also touted 5.6 million active sellers on the platform.
In February, the company announced it was selling Depop to eBay for $1.2 billion in cash, a move aimed at doubling down on its core marketplace.
Etsy joins a growing list of companies building native apps within ChatGPT, including Angi, SeatGeek, Tubi, and Wix. Developers have been able to build apps within the chatbot since October.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
The Bears Gary cliffhanger explained: What just happened to Richie?
Pennsylvania is suing Character.AI for allegedly practicing medicine without a license
