Dating app maker Bumble is venturing into generative AI. During the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, Bumble introduced a new AI assistant it calls “Bee.” The assistant is designed to be a personal matchmaker, learning users’ “values, relationship goals, communication style, lifestyle, and dating intentions” through private chats. Then use those insights to find more relevant matches for your users.
Bee is currently in the pilot phase and being tested internally, but Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd told investors that the company will soon launch a beta version.
The company envisions that with Bee, it will be able to collect more information about Bumble users by learning more about their individual stories and what they really want. This could help differentiate Bumble’s app from apps like Tinder, which also just underwent an overhaul as the dating app market slumps with Gen Z users.
Bumble said users can interact with Bee like other AI chatbots by typing and speaking in a more conversational style.
Initially, Bee will be used to power a new dating experience called “Dates” that uses AI to recommend matches, but in the future, Bumble says Bee will move into other areas, such as providing date suggestions and soliciting anonymous feedback from previous matches.
In “Dates,” Bee first learns about users through private onboarding conversations. Next, identify two people with common intentions, values, and relationship goals. Both users will be notified within the app with an explanation of why a match is a good match.
The addition is part of a broader technology and AI-focused overhaul of the dating app, which has previously touted itself as more focused on women’s needs. The company pioneered features such as “women message first,” a ban on body shaming, and tools to blur unsolicited explicit images.
The company is now using AI to regain user growth in a dating market where younger users, particularly Gen Z, are starting to get tired of swiping.
In fact, Hurd said Bumble will be experimenting with removing the swipe mechanism that has long been popular in some markets to see how users react. Rather than prioritizing swipes as a binary “yes” or “no,” Bumble is considering leveraging other features, such as new “chapter-based” profiles that allow members to connect with each other about different parts of a user’s life story. This gives Bumble more data to feed into its AI systems and algorithms.
“We’re introducing a more dynamic way for someone to show interest in your story, not just your profile. This will drive more dynamic engagement, generate better conversations, and ultimately drive better KPIs across the board, including engagement and opportunities to advance better conversations,” Wolfe Herd said. “You’ll also see that we’re taking a much more intentional approach to getting people offline, rather than just calling them dead-end chat zones.”
The company is also looking at other ways to better serve Gen Z, who prefer group interactions to one-on-one dates to get to know people.
The company has been working on adding AI to its app for years, rolling out changes such as AI photo selection and feedback tools, as well as areas like safety, for example. Wolfe Herd told investors that Bumble’s backend infrastructure has been completely overhauled, with AI built into the app itself.
The company reported better-than-expected revenue in the fourth quarter, with revenue of $224.2 million and average revenue per paid user of $22.20, an increase of 7.9%. The stock price rose about 40% on the news.
