Machine learning studied more than 11,000 couples and found the 5 factors that can make or break your relationship

Swipe left? Or swipe right? AI might have the answer.

The reasons that some relationships blossom while others fail could be less to do with the people involved and more about the connection they build with each other, data from more than 11,000 couples indicates.

Scientists using machine learning have found the characteristics of a relationship might be a far greater predictor of couples’ satisfaction than their – or their partner’s – personalities.

"Really, it suggests that the person we choose is not nearly as important as the relationship we build … The dynamic that you build with someone – the shared norms, the in-jokes, the shared experiences – is so much more than the separate individuals who make up that relationship,” said Samatha Joel, the study author and director of the Relationship Decisions Lab at Canada’s Western University.

The recipe for relationship success

The study looked at data from thousands of romantic relationships, grouping together characteristics of the relationship itself, and individual characteristics of each partner. Although some traits will influence others, they don’t all have equal weighting.

The top five individual variables that explained differences in relationship satisfaction were:

The five main relationship characteristics that influenced satisfaction were:

And although the individual characteristics have an important role to play, they are far less important than the relationship characteristics, the study says.

Love in the time of corona

The growth in the online dating market has been impressive and sustained. Around 276.9 million people are expected to use apps in their search for love by 2024, with revenues reaching $2.5 billion. And while the pandemic may have hampered short-term dating prospects, research by data company Statista suggests that more people have signed up to dating services over the past few months.

In the United States, one the of biggest online dating markets in the world, heterosexual couples are now more likely to meet online than in any other way.

And the industry is already awake to the potential of AI. Dating website eHarmony is working on an AI feature that prompts people to meet up after they have been chatting for a while. British app Loveflutter plans to use AI to monitor users’ chats for compatibility. And social network Badoo is using AI and facial recognition technology to help users find potential partners that look like others – including celebrities – they fancy.