Justin McLeod, the founder and former CEO of Hinge, just announced he’s stepping down to launch Overtone, a new AI matchmaking app that promises to be “like working with an all-star personal matchmaker.” As someone who has worked as a professional matchmaker for over five years, I need to call out what’s really happening here: another tech CEO who has never done the actual work of matchmaking thinks he can automate away the humans who do it.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth: he’s going to fail. Not because AI doesn’t have its place in dating, but because he fundamentally misunderstands what matchmaking actually is.

The matchmaking industry is growing rapidly while dating apps plateau. More people are willing to pay for alternatives. The cultural moment is shifting toward human-curated connections over algorithmic matching.

If you’re someone who already connects people, who cares about your friends’ romantic lives, who throws events or builds communities; you’re sitting on a business opportunity that most people don’t see yet.

The sooner you recognize that facilitating romantic connections for the people in your life is valuable work that can be monetized, the sooner you can build something sustainable around it.

We’re facing the worst job market for college graduates in five years. Student loan debt has reached $1.77 trillion. Young people with degrees are competing with high school graduates for the same jobs and losing. The American Dream isn’t just dying, it’s being actively killed by the very institutions that promised to deliver it.

This isn’t about the economy. This isn’t about AI or globalization or any other convenient scapegoat. This is about a system that takes billions from families who can’t afford it, delivers a product that doesn’t work, hides the evidence, and then asks for donations.

Universities are running the biggest con in American history. And it’s time someone said it.