AI Is Surfacing the Infidelity Dating Apps Were Never Built to Handle

Listen… as a polyamorous, bisexual girl married to a man, I don’t quite understand cheating. Like, why not just tell your partner you want to see other people? Why lie? Why be in a monogamous relationship at all if you’re not truly happy? But that’s neither here nor there. 

The point is, what it comes down to, cheating is still very prevalent in today’s romance department, whether it’s during dating or even after years of marriage. Yes, even in 2025! If you thought, as a dating industry expert (or even a dater), that it wasn’t, I am sad to report that infidelity is still very much, unfortunately, alive and well.

Don’t believe me? Well, the data speaks for itself. In a 2024 survey,, 2 in 5 people (that’s a whopping 44.3% of folks in relationships) admitted to cheating on an existing or previous partner. Even more so, nearly 19%t of people in relationships have claimed to have dating app profiles while in a committed partnership. 

Of course, 34% of people said this behavior would be unacceptable. In simpler terms, it’s a deal breaker. Well… duh. Why do you think apps like Are We Dating The Same Guy? and TikTok girls banding together to discover overlap in their dating partners  — girls are, in fact, the FBI — exist?! Well, because of course, cheating could be seen as an epidemic. Plus, the majority of cheating happens on dating apps, 19.6% of cheaters surveyed say online chat rooms or dating apps were what sparked doing the deed. So what’s to be done? Enter: CheaterBuster, AKA a new AI-powered search tool, specifically made to find out whether someone is active on Tinder (and maybe other dating apps, soon!)

How AI Is Being Used to Scan Dating Apps for Infidelity

So, what is CheaterBuster? The concept is pretty simple, really. A CheaterBuster user can go on the site and type in a name, age range, and location. Then, the site will scan Tinder profiles to find potential matches. Bust the cheater in action. 

By simply buying credits, a user can put in their lover’s info and find out whether they have other lovers on Tinder, now. 

According to a Vice article on the service, Cheaterbuster was built by creator Ernesto Reyes* — who remains anonymous for fear of backlash from the cheaters themselves. It was launched in 2016 and is run by a small team in Mexico City. But now, with AI taking the world by storm, the buster’s usage has only gone up.

But what does this mean for you and your team? The dating industry experts, I mean? Well, many dating apps are already struggling to keep their users’ trust — think the skepticism of the “Black Mirror” of dating apps, being called out for pretending apps are built for women and even prioritizing the male loneliness epidemic. This AI tool could be seen as an ally, but it could also, unfortunately, be seen as a threat, too.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Many users of dating apps aren’t single, and dating apps historically haven’t done much to prevent this. I mean, there’s a lack of verification of marital status, and some apps even have ghost mode features that benefit cheaters.

CheaterBuster doesn’t just bust the cheater, but in many ways, it busts us. The dating industry as a whole. If this, and more AI tools, continue to expose the hidden cheating on apps, I think it’s safe to say that more active daters will not want to use them at all.
Like, why would daters use apps if they’re worried they’ll match with someone who’s already secretly committed to someone else? Not only does that look bad on them, but it could reflect badly on your app, too. Just sayin’.

Could this shift the industry?

As an active dating app user who is also ethically non-monogamous, there is absolutely nothing ethical about cheating. And if apps want to be seen as the place to meet the love of your life — especially for folks who are looking for monogamous, long-term partnerships — then I’d say it’s time to start shifting and moving and growing.

Could CheaterBuster be the spark to ignite the “No More Cheaters!” campaign of all dating apps? Well, it should be.

Sure, cheaters have always been caught. Seeing an email, being outed by the Ashley Madison leak, even seeing a friend of a friend down at the bar with someone else. But now, with AI, it’s easier than ever before. And it’s time to respond to it, not just by ignoring it, but by doing something on the dating app user’s terms.

Because now, more than ever, users are essentially going to demand safer, more emotionally honest dating platforms. If you want to keep users engaged, happy, and of course, find the love they’re looking for, there need to be systems in place.

Rather than CheaterBuster having the upper hand, what if, instead, your team uses AI to your advantage? Personally, I’d love an AI moderation feature that could detect a person’s patterns, verify whether users are actually married or not, and maybe even reveal how long someone has been on the apps. 

I could even benefit from this. Although I am non-monogamous, you’d be surprised how many cheaters I’ve matched with, people who claim to be ENM but aren’t. Usually, I end up asking if I can speak to their partner to verify. But wouldn’t it be great if dating apps just did all that for me?

It would give me, and other dating app users, a different kind of peace of mind. But it probably starts with admitting there is a cheating problem on your platform, first.

So, what do you do now?

Is CheaterBuster revolutionary? No. It’s just a new spin on an old take. But it is the new wave of busting cheaters in the act. And it should be taken into account if you’re working in the dating industry. 

The hard truth is, if the teams that work in the dating industry don’t clean up platforms — Tinder, Hinge, Bumble and more — AI will continue to expose cheaters over and over again. But like I said before, it’s not just exposing them. It’s exposing your app, too.

So maybe, instead, expose them first. Just some food for thought.