The AI-powered photo editor Photoroom received a $43 million investment injection two months ago, and that money is being put to use deleting people’s exes from photos on the dating platform OkCupid.
Dubbed “Erase Your Ex,” Photoroom’s new Ex-Exterminator saves a user’s favorite selfies and portraits from the dreaded ex. People seem keen to alter the past when looking for a future partner.
According to an OkCupid user survey with over 185,000 responses, nearly two-thirds (62%) of single women who use the app want to erase an ex from a “good photo.”
Interestingly, there is geographic variance in how many users want to delete exes from photos. American users wish to delete exes quite a bit, with more than half of all users, regardless of gender, wanting to eliminate former love interests in portraits. German and French users, at 27% and 29%, respectively, are more relaxed.
However, no country holds a candle to the Philippines, where 74% of OkCupid users want to delete their exes. Presumably, the different preferences by country rely heavily upon societal norms surrounding prior dating partners, with some countries generally caring more than others about whether a potential partner has any dating history.
Globally, 51% of all respondents have wanted to erase an ex from a photo of themselves, with 43% saying it’s because they don’t want to look at them, 41% saying it helps them get over the breakup, and 16% seeking to use the photo on a dating profile.
There are also differences by age, with younger users more interested in deleting exes from photos. Older daters seem more patient for prospective matches with photos of exes.
It is not just the users with ex-filled photos who want them gone. People looking at dating profiles also prefer to see portraits with just one person in the frame. Nearly seven in 10 daters say they want to see individual photos of potential matches. Love-seekers with a profile photo of only themselves get 42% more likes and 25% more matches on OkCupid.
Photoroom’s new Ex-Terminator is very easy to use thanks to the power of AI. Users upload their images to the website, “erase” their “no-good ex,” and “move on.” Photoroom and OkCupid promise that a person’s ex will be gone “without a trace.”
“‘Ex-terminating’ your ex by erasing them from a good photo is set to become the summer’s hot new dating trend,” says OkCupid’s Head of Brand Michael Kaye.
So far this year, OkCupid users have already sent more than 100 million first messages to others, with about 70% seeking a long-term relationship. That’s a lot of first moves and many people looking at other’s portraits.
“Whether it’s to heal and move on or to salvage a good photo, millions of folks want to erase their exes from old pictures,” says Lauren Sudworth, Photoroom’s Head of Brand.
Image credits: Photoroom and OkCupid