Dating app maker Bumble is venturing into generative AI. During the company\u2019s fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, Bumble introduced a new AI assistant it\u2019s calling \u201cBee,\u201d designed to become a personal matchmaker that learns users\u2019 \u201cvalues, relationship goals, communication style, lifestyle, and dating intentions\u201d through private chats. It then uses those insights to help find the user more relevant matches.<\/p>\n
Currently, Bee is in the pilot phase and being tested internally, Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd told investors, but it\u2019s launching into beta soon.<\/p>\n
With Bee, the company envisions being able to capture much more information about Bumble users, as it learns more about each individual\u2019s story and what they really want. This could differentiate Bumble\u2019s app from others like Tinder, which also just underwent an overhaul as the dating app market has fizzled with Gen Z users.<\/p>\n
Bumble says users will interact with Bee much like they do with other AI chatbots, through typing and speaking in a more conversational style. <\/p>\n Initially, Bee will be used to power a new dating experience called \u201cDates\u201d that uses AI to recommend matches, but in the future, Bumble says Bee will move into other areas, like offering date suggestions or requesting anonymous feedback from your prior matches.<\/p>\n In \u201cDates,\u201d Bee will first learn about the user through a private, onboarding conversation. It then identifies two people who have shared intentions, values, and relationship goals. Both users are notified in the app with a description of why they make a great match.<\/p>\n The addition is part of a broader tech and AI-focused overhaul of the dating app, which to date has marketed itself as more focused on women\u2019s needs. The company pioneered features like \u201cwomen message first,\u201d body-shaming bans, and tools that blurred unsolicited explicit images, among others.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s looking to use AI to return to user growth amid a dating market that sees younger users, particularly Gen Z, growing tired of the swipe.<\/p>\n In fact, Herd said that Bumble would experiment with removing the long-popular swipe mechanism in select markets to see how users react. Instead of prioritizing swipes as a binary \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno,\u201d Bumble is looking to leverage other features, like new \u201cchapter-based\u201d profiles where members can connect with one another on different parts of a user\u2019s life story. This will give Bumble more data to feed into its AI system and algorithms. <\/p>\n \u201cWe will be introducing more dynamic ways for somebody to express interest in your story, rather than just your profile, and this is going to drive more dynamic engagement, spark better conversation, and ultimately drive better KPIs across the board \u2014 like engagement and chances to get better conversations going,\u201d Wolfe Herd said. \u201cYou will also see us take a much more deliberate approach to getting people offline versus just in what people refer to as dead-end chat zones.\u201d<\/p>\n The company is also looking into other ways to better cater to Gen Z, a cohort that often prefers group socializing over one-on-one dates to get to know people. <\/p>\n The company has been working to add AI to its app for years, rolling out changes like AI photo selection<\/a> and feedback<\/a> tools, for instance, as well as in areas like safety<\/a>. Wolfe Herd told investors that Bumble\u2019s back-end infrastructure had been overhauled as the app infused itself with AI.<\/p>\n The company reported better-than-expected earnings<\/a> in Q4, with revenue<\/a> of $224.2 million and average revenue per paying user up 7.9% to $22.20. The stock rallied some 40% on the news.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bumble-bee-.png?w=680\")