Dating and Intimacy in the Age of AI

Jackie Jantos (0:00)

We know that AI cannot replace the relationship two humans have, the intimacy, the tension, the sort of, you know, magic of being in person with another human. So for us, we work in service of humans, connecting with other humans, always.

Laurie Segall (0:24)

I'm Laurie Segall, and you're listening to Mostly Human, a tech podcast through a human lens.

Jackie, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast. You recently became the Hinge CEO. So what an extraordinary time to be the CEO of a dating app like Hinge. How does it feel to take on the role right now?

Jackie Jantos (0:48)

Yeah, you know, on one hand, I've been at the organization for almost five years, which seems crazy.

And I had sort of a year of being a president and chief marketing officer. I came in as a CMO five years ago. And so I feel very familiar with the work and very familiar with the team. So that part feels great. But on the other hand, yeah, we're living in a moment in time where people are really yearning for being in a relationship, particularly young people who are the core audience Hinge serves. And they're really struggling to get out there and to try and to figure out what that looks like and to have the resilience to move forward, because dating is not the easiest thing. It never has been.

Laurie Segall (1:39)

Yeah.

Jackie Jantos (1:39)

So it feels sort of like a culmination, I think, for me of the work that I've done leading up to this to be in a space that is so fundamentally human. And I feel a deep responsibility for that, but I also feel a deep privilege to be in the seat.

Laurie Segall (1:57)

I mean, talk about responsibility. It's like, do your job right, and there could be babies in the future, and marriages, you know?

Jackie Jantos (2:03)

Our walls are peppered in wedding invitations and move-in notices, so we get these all the time. And yeah, you know, anytime I tell people where I work, it's immediate connection to stories about dating or people they know who met on Hinge, or really challenging experiences they've had trying to date or trying to get Hinge to work for them. So it's everything.

Laurie Segall (2:29)

Yeah. And you talk a little bit about your background and how it brought you here. You do have an interesting background. I mean, you talked about you were the CMO at Hinge before taking on this role, but you also spent your career and brand CMO roles, Coca-Cola, Spotify. Is it true that you were involved with Spotify Rap?

The reason we all realize we listened to too much Taylor Swift or something at the end of the year, this is you?

Jackie Jantos (2:52)

Yeah. Spotify Rap is for sure one of my babies. And that journey at a company that I joined Spotify, right as it was trying to launch in the US.

And so it was a very Swedish organization, and really evolving the business and the brand to one that was centered in music, was really the task there. And Rap started as a little seed of an idea in 2013, and just grew and grew and grew and grew. And I think my background really is in building lasting global brands that are in service of people. And so I think that's definitely a through line. And to do that takes a while.

So I've also stuck it out at many of the organizations I've been at to see the fruits of that labor and the work that you begin in its infancy and then grow and grow and grow. I mean, Rap Today is one of the largest moments for the organization.

And it's, yeah, it's a huge privilege to have been a part of the very, very early years of that.

Laurie Segall (4:04)

And you grew up in Tokyo, which is interesting. I'm curious how that shaped the work that you do.

Jackie Jantos (4:12)

Yeah, I mean, I was in Japan, you know, for for quite some time as a kid.

And I think for sure it gives you an exposure to many different cultures. We traveled a lot and all over the world when I was younger. And also, you know, Japan is a very sort of homogenous society and culture. And so you are distinctly foreign, looking like I do in that country. And it was a really wonderful experience with a strong international community and sort of learning to exist in a culture that you are not a part of. And I think that for sure has had a lasting impact on how I view leadership, how I view teams, how I think about being inclusive, sort of all of it. Growing up as a kid with a really strong international community around me.