- Bumbles AI assistant Bee moved from experiment to active use in matching this quarter
- Bee enhances member profiles for more relevant matches without replacing the swipe feature
- CEO Wolfe Herd emphasizes AI will not replace genuine human connection or authenticity
Bumble's artificial intelligence assistant, called Bee, moved from an onboarding experiment to active use in matching this quarter, according to the company's post-Q2 earnings conference call. Founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd described it as "simply the intelligence under the hood," not a product built to take over the swipe.
"Bee is not replacing the swipe. We are not aiming for an AI driven experience," Wolfe Herd said. She added that Bumble is being "very deliberate" about how the tool gets deployed, because "trust is paramount."
Bee produces what she calls "a more complete and authentic view of the individual member." Members using the tool have seen more relevant matches, which she attributed to the richer signal Bee captures during onboarding.
Wolfe Herd also said that as AI progresses, she finds herself asking, "what won't be replaced by AI? And the answer is very clear. The need for real love, friendship and connection in the real world with other humans, because we are better together."
ALSO READ: How Bumble Went From Dating-App Darling To A 95% Stock Collapse Since Listing
The Bots Warning From Q1
That framing is softer than what Wolfe Herd said three months earlier. On Bumble's first-quarter call, she directly addressed the growing market of AI companion apps, warning against a future where people substitute chatbots for human relationships.
"For those of you that have been following and watching people fall in love with AI bots, I mean this is not the future we want for ourselves or the next generation," she said then, adding that "AI should never replace human authenticity or human connection."
Match Group's Quieter AI
Match Group, which reported results a day earlier, mentioned AI around five times on its own call, all from CEO Spencer Rascoff, and never gave it a name, just a functional mention.
AI "accelerated execution across product development life cycles," helped one team ship a new feature "from idea to final product in just a few weeks," and powers an early-stage recommendation model at Hinge meant to become "a broader personalization layer" over time.
The two companies converge on the actual aim of the apps. Bumble is testing Plans, a standalone app for curated real-world group meetups. Match Group's Tinder Events has scaled to ten cities with a target of 75 by year end.
Both dating app companies frame AI as the thing meant to get members out from behind the screen faster, whether that's Bee sharpening a match before a first message, or Match Group's AI-assisted development shipping features like Missed Connections in weeks instead of months.
ALSO READ: Swiping IS Exhausting! Even The Dating Apps Want You To Have IRL Meet-Cutes
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