Social App Pie Introduces AI-Powered Friendship Matchmaking

The relatively new social app Pie, which aims to foster in-person connections, is incorporating AI-powered matchmaking to help users find compatible friends at its events. Founded by Andy Dunn, the creator of online fashion retailer Bonobos, Pie has grown to 130,000 monthly active users across San Francisco and Chicago, backed by an $11.5 million Series A funding round.

As the app’s community expanded, events became overcrowded, making it harder for attendees to connect meaningfully. In response, Pie acqui-hired two developers behind Sparked Connections, an AI-driven quiz designed to match users based on compatibility.

The new feature, branded as “Sparked by Pie,” is now integrated into select gatherings. Attendees take a personality quiz before the event, answering questions about topics like stability, astrology, voting, and personal habits. An AI algorithm then groups respondents into small circles of six people who are likely to get along, placing them in a group chat to connect ahead of time.

“We’re starting to power it through [ChatGPT],” said Dunn. “And then when we get feedback loops of who connects with who, and who invites people to stuff, we’ll start to see, well, why do people hit it off?”

The move comes as concerns about loneliness in the U.S. continue to grow. While some may find it unsettling that AI is playing a role in friendship-building, social apps already influence our relationships, from existing friend-matching systems to features like Reddit Answers. With AI now shaping real-world friendships, Pie’s approach could be a glimpse into the future of social networking – or, at the very least, a new way of approaching these AI-driven matchups that takes more of the user’s personality into account.