Americans who are single are loosening their grip on the old checklist of dating milestones, according to new findings from the Kinsey Institute’s Singles in America survey released this fall.
The study, conducted with roughly 5,000 US adults and funded by Match, found growing comfort with relationships that do not follow a traditional script, alongside a sharp gender split over whether artificial intelligence belongs in the search for love.
A looser definition of commitment
Dr. Amanda Gesselman, a senior research scientist at the Kinsey Institute and co-lead of the study, said singles are becoming more flexible regarding what a good relationship can look like over time.
She said the milestones that used to define a relationship in society have become less essential, with singles instead placing more value on what kind of person they want their partner to be.
The numbers back up that shift. The study found that 45% of respondents would like to marry in the future, up from 33% in 2010, while 30% would consider a long-term committed relationship without plans to marry.
At the same time, fewer singles are closing the door on partnership altogether. About 24% said they do not want a relationship, down from 32% in 2021, according to the Kinsey Institute’s broader comparison of the data.
The survey also pushed back on the assumption that singlehood equals loneliness or longing. More than half of single Americans surveyed say they are happier now than they were in past relationships.
One in four said they would stay single even if their perfect match appeared tomorrow.
A sharp divide on AI in dating
One of the most striking findings concerns artificial intelligence. Men were more likely than women to have used AI in their dating lives, at 47% versus 30%.
Despite that gap in adoption, most singles remain wary of letting software take over the emotional work of romance. While 30% believe AI could improve human connection, 66% said it could not replace it.
The ambivalence echoes a broader pattern GCN has previously reported, in which adults whose social networks lean heavily on strangers report measurably greater loneliness, suggesting digital tools can widen a social circle without necessarily deepening it.
That tension between reach and genuine connection appears to be exactly what singles are weighing as AI chatbots and matching algorithms become more common features of dating apps.
A wide-ranging look at modern singlehood
The 2026 edition of the survey is the largest and longest-running of its kind. It is billed as the nation’s most comprehensive and longest-running annual study of single adults.
It examined attitudes, behaviors and experiences across areas such as singlehood, dating, relationships, marriage and children, as well as the wider social and economic context in which relationships take place, including finances, work, gender roles, social media and technology.
Researchers asked 120 questions, ranging from “What makes a relationship feel meaningful?” and “What has driven your readiness to find a relationship?” to “Would you use AI to help you in your dating life?” and “What do you think healthy masculinity looks like?”
The study was conducted between March and April 2026, using a demographically representative nationwide panel.
Why the shift matters
The findings arrive as early dating behavior itself is drawing fresh scrutiny, including recent research on how something as small as the timing of a first follow-up text can signal relationship intentions.
Together, the data points to a dating culture that is simultaneously more open to nontraditional arrangements and more cautious about outsourcing emotional connection to technology.
For a survey that has tracked single adults since 2010, the 2026 results suggest the biggest change is not whether Americans want relationships, but how rigidly they expect those relationships to look once they find them.
