Hinge’s Justin McLeod leaves to launch AI dating service

Hinge‘s founder and CEO, Justin McLeod, is stepping down to launch Overtone, an AI-driven dating service.

McLeod launched Hinge in 2012, according to its website, and relaunched the popular dating app in 2016 “with a renewed commitment — helping people find love.”

McLeod mentions the relaunch in a blog post on Overtone’s website, stating that public sentiment was turning on dating apps at the time, and so was his. So he made the decision “to tear down Hinge as we knew it and rebuild from scratch.”

“And yet, as the cultural tides shift again, I’ve begun to feel a stir familiar to the one that sparked our reinvention ten years ago,” McLeod writes, harking to the degrading public opinion of dating apps (even though Hinge has monetarily grown between 2024 and 2025).

McLeod then goes on to discuss the rise of AI connections and how they can’t compare to human relationships — but that “AI, if used correctly, can help us invent an entirely new way for people to find their partners that is far more personal, far more efficient, and far more effective.”

For the last year, McLeod and a small team within Hinge have been developing Overtone, which a Hinge spokesperson described to Mashable as an “AI-driven venture backed by Match Group” (the dating app conglomerate that acquired Hinge in 2018).

“Think less like a social platform, more like the experience of working with an all-star personal matchmaker,” McLeod says in the blog post. “A service that prioritizes getting to know you — and everyone else — so it can make curated, personalized introductions to people on your wavelength.”

Jackie Jantos, formerly president and chief marketing officer, will become Hinge’s new CEO, according to a press release. Tamika Young will be Hinge’s chief marketing and communications officer after previously serving as senior vice president of global communications. McLeod will remain as an adviser to Hinge through March.

Hinge, like many dating and hookup apps, has been leaning into AI recently. This month, it launched Convo Starters, an AI feature designed to help break the ice with a first message that’s better than “hey.” In January, Hinge released AI-driven prompt feedback to encourage users to write more thoughtful responses to prompts.

Hinge’s own users are using AI to date, according to a report released by the app in November.

Overtone won’t be the first AI-driven “matchmaker.” Earlier this year, Mashable interviewed Nandini Mullaji, founder of AI matchmaking app Sitch. Another matchmaking service, Three Day Rule, launched an AI-powered matchmaking app this fall.