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This tech startup helps you discover other like-minded people with machine learning

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Affinity is the new mobile app transforming our ability to discover like-minded people and the things they love.

Australian fintech pioneers Jay Stockwell and Cameron Slabosz have launched a new app that uses a combination of psychometrics and artificial intelligence to create an “Affinity Score” that predicts the like-mindedness between people.

Over 100 studies in sociology have shown that like-mindedness is the cornerstone for building long term, rewarding relationships.

It’s also one of the best ways to discover new things you’ll love – through the recommendations of people who like the same stuff as you.

How exactly does Affinity work?

When you create a profile on the beautifully designed Affinity app, you answer questions that look at your personality, values, what you do and what you like.

Affinity then uses machine learning based algorithms to create an “Affinity Score” between you and every other user on the platform.

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This score is an indicator of how like-minded you are with each other.

Any score over 800 shows you’d have a good chance of having a lot in common with this person. Any score over 900 means that you’re so alike, you’re practically twins.

You can connect with people around the world (or around the corner) as well as view their profiles which can include feeds from their Instagram, Twitter, Spotify, Youtube and Goodreads profiles.

Jay Stockwell
Jay Stockwell

Co-founder Jay Stockwell says Affinity gives users the upper hand when looking for people like you.

“The research backs the old saying, birds of a feather, flock together,” Stockwell says. “We all want to meet others who like the same stuff we do, and Affinity makes that happen no matter who you are, where you live or what interests you. There are others out there like you and Affinity can help you find them.”

It’s not just about finding people either

“There are a whole lot of benefits of finding like-minded people – the obvious one, of course, is you might strike up a friendship with them,” Stockwell says.

“However, it also extends beyond that into other areas of discovery – for example, you might find cool new music, or books or places to hang out, all through this like-mindedness. Affinity helps you unearth these things.”

Cameron Slabosz
Cameron Slabosz

Jay Stockwell and Cameron Slabosz came up with the idea when reminiscing about how hard it was to find other people on their wavelength when they both moved cities.

“When I got married and moved cities, it took me a solid 18 months to find truly like-minded people,” Stockwell says. “There were lots of great people around, but we were all into different stuff and just didn’t have a lot in common. Working from home made it even worse.”

Jay has a degree in Behavioural Science, and Cameron led the team of data scientists that built Australia’s first real time credit risk engine.