New Bumble CEO Talks New Direction and Features with Tech Crunch

Bumble CEO Lidiane Jones sat down with Tech Crunch to discuss women on the platform no longer making the first move, potential new safety features, AI, and other plans to enhance the app.

In a recent interview Jones shared that she is reconsidering the basic premise of Bumble: that women make the first move. Instead, she said that women should be given the choice of whether they want to make the first move or not, giving them more control in their dating experience.

Jones assured Tech Crunch that her goal of empowering women on the platform remains steadfast: “Our brand awareness is so high, it’s amazing. And if you ask anybody about Bumble, they’ll say it’s about women, and the core of that is not changing. We are a company that really cares about women’s empowerment.”

Jones also shared that the company is putting more resources into AI and security. The app already has AI-based features like Private Detector which can identify a lewd image and blur it out for the recipient, and then ask if that recipient wants to respond to the sender or report or block that user. Jones said that now she wants to focus on background checks and partnering with different organizations to create a safer environment for users of the app.

“If you think about the advancement of [AI] in the context of dating, it’s only as good and as safe as a company’s data and safety practices,” Jones told Tech Crunch. “Our customers’ privacy and their trust has always been incredibly strong; we’ve always had a high bar for healthy connections.”

The company will also update the profile experience in its next version, along with “the visual language of the app,” as she told Tech Crunch. They will incorporate AI to help with profile creation, where people tend to get stuck, with prompts and other methods to help them along. She noted: “…we want to feel more connected to our users, and for the tone of voice to be fun and joyful…We really want dating to be fun again — that’s the key of it.”

Jones will continue Herd’s legacy of advocacy for online safety policies. Herd fought to make the non-consensual sending of lewd photos illegal in some states and has had success.

She added that the company will focus on in-person events as it did before the pandemic, as well as connecting people to develop non-romantic friendships as it does with Bumble for Friends. “Bumble has always been about more than dating, too. Dating is a huge part of it, but we’ve always believed that there is a need for connection and friendships,” she told Tech Crunch.

For more on this dating app, you can check out our Bumble review.