AI can soon be your wingman when you use the dating app Bumble, according to CEO Lidiane Jones. As people continue to adjust how they look for love with technology, Jones explained during this year’s Goldman Sachs Communacopia technology conference that Bumble has plans to enhance its usual setup with new AI-powered tools in the coming months.
Jones outlined the company’s plans to enhance the app with AI tools that aim to improve the user experience, particularly in the areas of profile creation and conversation support. That includes AI help in picking out profile photos. The idea is to make it easier to take that first step in making a profile, which eases users into actually trying to match with others on the app. AI help picking photos is also an idea Tinder is also pursuing, which means it may become a new standard option in the world of dating apps.
“We want the bar for profile creation to continue to be high, but we want to reduce the friction that exists users,” Jones said. “Users have a lot of anxiety in creating profiles. We’re going to make that as smooth as possible. So AI for profile creation is a big one.”
Should the photo assistance go over well with users, Jones hinted that AI might be applied to helping users craft their profile bio and prompts for starting conversations. AI could help with icebreakers and better communication in general. It’s something Bumble has been trying out on its Bumble for Friends app but hasn’t been available on the dating app before. Jones pointed out that icebreakers can be challenging, but AI can help craft personalized opening lines based on the profile of a match to get over that obstacle.
Matchmaker AI
Though enthusiastic about how AI can help users actively pursue romance, Jones was particularly keen to point out how Bumble has deployed AI in its safety tools for several years. For instance, Bumble’s Deception Detector can spot fake profiles, annoying spammers, and people trying to scam other users. And, to avoid the dreaded unrequested nude photo, the AI-fueled Private Detector automatically blurs nude images shared within chats.
More recently, Bumble added the ability to report any profiles with what appear to be AI-generated images or videos, which are explicitly prohibited by the app. Bumble wants people to trust their app and that the people they encounter are real and not an AI-powered hoax. That’s crucial as dating apps aren’t quite as huge for single people as they have been. Tinder and Bumble see AI as a way to enhance their apps and encourage users, and there is a lot of potential for very personalized matchmaking tools through AI, but it won’t matter if no one meets someone they want to go out with at least once. Bumble’s conscious effort to center those human connections in the app shows that Jones and her team know that, stripped of AI bells and whistles, people using a dating app just want an easier way to meet someone.
“One of the key principles for us as we embrace more and more AI in our products and services is ensuring that AI is not replacing users. And our belief is that AI can facilitate you showing up, but we still want users to be themselves. We want them to speak for themselves. And so we have a really clear set of principles,” Jones said. “We’re really excited about the use of AI for future innovation here, but again, with the principle that people are meeting real people.”
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erichs211@gmail.com (Eric Hal Schwartz)
