I asked ChatGPT and a human matchmaker to redo my Hinge and Bumble profiles. They helped show me what works.

Lydia Kociuba, the writer behind Hidden Gem, told me she credits her success to her search-engine-optimization skills. She said web search is the main way clients find her. 

Insider paid Kociuba her normal fee of $105 to write my two profiles for the purposes of this story and I verified her number of clients by reviewing her monthly PayPal statements from February and March.

For reference, Bumble is app where only women can make the first move.

The app asks users to fill out a section called "My bio," along with personal data like height, occupation, age, and other things.

Users are also asked to respond to prompts, which are intended to offer "potential matches a closer look into your personality" and "help them break the ice and feel more comfortable about making the first move," according to Bumble's site.  

There are more than 30 prompts on the app that range from questions like, "I guarantee you that…" to "My most useless skill is…"

I thought this was pretty well done! It certainly conveyed more about me than my current Bumble bio, which says: "Grew up in the Midwest. I lived in DC, Detroit, and Palo Alto (briefly) before that." 

I had reservations about the word choice here and there, and I probably wouldn't use "gab fest." With a few tweaks, though, I could include it on my profile. 

My instincts usually lead me away from describing myself in so many words. My profile currently has "I'm hoping you … give me travel tips, tell me about your favorite place!" However, Kociuba's responses made me wonder if a more straightforward approach might actually work better. 

I tried to ensure my answers to ChatGPT were consistent with the ones I provided Kociuba. So, I offered up a generic set: writing, reading, cooking, spending time with family and friends.

I was surprised at the liberties ChatGPT took with my bio — especially compared to what Kociuba wrote. The bot presumed that I loved "classic literature." I was also surprised by the phrasing "When I'm not in the kitchen…."

ChatGPT certainly has a "voice," which is what I'm told is missing in my profiles…

That said, these were definitely creative, albeit bold. I've never thought to ask someone for a recipe before meeting them face-to-face. 

I definitely preferred Kociuba's responses over ChatGPT's responses here. There was something cheesy and obviously "bot-like" about the tone. If anyone ever wrote "I think we could have a lot of fun in the kitchen together," I would immediately swipe left…

Hinge, a dating app owned by Match Group, recently launched a pricey subscription tier. I'm still using the free version. 

Aside from the standard biographical information, the app only asks users to respond to three prompts that range from open-ended questions like "Typical Sunday…" and "I'm convinced that…" to more revealing questions like "My cry-in-the-car song is…" and "My most controversial opinion is…"

First of all, I was happy to see that Kociuba went ahead and also selected Hinge prompts for me.

I also liked the way she incorporated some of my answers to her questionnaire here. One of her questions was who my childhood hero was— Andre Agassi. She turned that into a fun prompt that I would definitely include on my profile! 

Some of these were nice, like: "I believe in treating others the way you want to be treated, and I value people who share that philosophy." Including a line like that on my profile would certainly eliminate casual, non-committal matches. 

Others, however, seemed robotic and vague in a way that might be worse than what I currently have on my profile: "Whether it's through a shared interest or a deep conversation, I love getting to know people and building meaningful relationships." That's a no from me. 

I was also amused — again — by the liberties it took with a couple of the responses. I never mentioned the board game Settlers of Catan to ChatGPT, and to be honest, I'm not a big game person. However, a few of my friends thought that was a good detail to include, and might help others strike a conversation. 

The dating app writer's answers were fun! They also offered me insight into how someone else would portray my best qualities. I came away with a good model of how to be more straightforward on an app. 

On the other hand, I was impressed, amused, and a little disturbed by ChatGPT's answers. They read with the fluency of someone who is terminally online, has a grasp on trends, and is well-versed in the mechanics of writing clever phrases.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were already several dating app users relying on the bot to craft profiles. Yet there was still something impersonal, and at times creepy, about its answers. 

My biggest takeaway from both is that I might need to be more direct about who I am and offer more conversation hooks on my profiles. I realized that I often default to vague phrases — or even jokes — to describe myself on apps as a form of self-protection.

I'll incorporate these ideas into how I write my profiles — on  my own — in the future.