The bottleneck in dating isn’t matching. It’s time

Nobel Prize-winning algorithms can find you a match, but nothing beats a free Friday night.

FirstDate, launched by the Government Technology Agency on Sept 29, is a pilot dating service for public officers aged 21 to 35.

PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO

Published Oct 08, 2026, 12:00 PM

Updated Oct 09, 2026, 09:45 AM

Who would want the Government to help them date? That question came up at a session of the Institute of Policy Studies’ Young Singaporeans Conference, titled Future Makers. A few hands went up from among the 30 participants who brainstormed ways to address Singapore’s declining total fertility rate.

The counterpoint to that question was that at least you won’t get catfished. That counterpoint is now an app.

Dating/Relationships

Public Service Division

诺贝尔奖得主算法可以帮你找到合适的伴侣，但没有什么比得上一个自由自在的周五晚上。

FirstDate 是政府科技局于 9 月 29 日推出的一项面向 21 至 35 岁公务员的试点约会服务。

图片来源：联合早报

发布于2026年10月8日下午12:00

更新于2026年10月9日上午9:45

谁会希望政府帮助他们约会呢？这个问题在新加坡政策研究所举办的“未来缔造者”青年大会上被提出。在30位与会者集思广益，探讨如何应对新加坡总和生育率下降的问题时，只有少数人举手表示赞同。

针对这个问题，有人反驳说，至少你不会被骗。而现在，这种反驳已经变成了一款应用程序。

约会/恋爱关系

公共服务部