Ex Bumble CEO Weighs in on AI Being the Future of Dating

Founder and former CEO of Bumble Whitney Wolfe Herd told audiences at the Bloomberg Technology Summit that dating apps should lean heavily into AI, including chatbots that can advise users and even go on dates for them.

Herd, who stepped down last year, noted that Bumble will use AI "to help create more healthy and equitable" dating experience, according to Gizmodo.

“You could, in the near future, be talking to your AI dating concierge. You could share your insecurities,” Wolfe Herd said on stage at the Summit, according to Gizmodo. “There is a world where your dating concierge could go and date for you with other dating concierges.”

The room erupted with nervous laughter at this remark, according to Gizmodo, but Herd defended the AI-driven future of Bumble and dating apps as a whole. “You don’t have to talk to 600 people. It could scan all of San Francisco for you and say these are the three people you really ought to meet.”

Responses on social media seemed weary of the idea of humans letting chatbots date for them.

But Bumble is already testing an AI-driven feature with its new Opening Moves launch, which offers women prompts to post for their matches to get conversations started. It’s being marketing as a new opportunity for women, relieving them of the pressure to create original messages to “make the first move,” as has long been a signature feature of the app.

The company has marketed this new feature with ads, billboards, and press interviews with CEO Lidiane Jones.

Dating apps have been struggling in recent months as more users are abandoning them and turning to other social platforms and real-life events to meet people. It seems that many singles are burned out on swiping. According to a recent Pew study cited by NBC News, 46 percent of dating app users say they’ve had a negative experience on an app.

At the same time, many dating app users are turning to AI to help them craft messages and filter photos. In fact, a recent survey from Pollfish found that one-third of men in the U.S. between the ages of 18 and 34 use ChatGPT for relationship advice. Only 14 percent of women are doing the same.

When asked about the new AI-driven feature Opening Moves, Herd acknowledged that “dating is exhausting.” She went on to say that Bumble “wanted to preserve the safety and original inspiration behind making the first move.”