Bumble is ditching the swipe and introducing a new AI assistant, ‘Bee’. The dating app, known for its women-first approach, is making a major change to combat user burnout and declining usage. CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd told Axios that the swipe feature led to too many dead-end conversations and will be replaced by tools that foster deeper connections.
What Bee Will Do
While details are still emerging, Bee is expected to help users improve their profiles by suggesting better photos and personal blurbs. It will also use AI to chat with users about their dating preferences and match them with people who share similar values. Bumble hopes this will reduce the superficiality of swiping and create more meaningful interactions.
Industry Pressure to Integrate AI
Bumble is not alone in turning to AI. Consumer tech companies are under pressure from investors to incorporate AI into their products quickly. However, sloppy integration can alienate users. Recent attempts by dating apps to use generative AI have had mixed results. For instance, the app Rizz uses AI to generate responses, and some users have reported fooling partners with AI-generated messages.
Tinder also launched an AI-powered flirting game in 2025. When tested by a Washington Post journalist, the app penalized politeness and quirky humor, highlighting how AI can replicate biases from its training data. Users have also expressed paranoia about whether their matches are using chatbots to appear charming.
The Broader Problem
Bumble’s shift reflects a wider trend in consumer tech. Millennial entrepreneurs were told that apps could solve complex systemic issues through convenience and democratization. But the frictionless experience has led to feelings of meaninglessness. A 2024 Forbes survey found that nearly 80% of dating app users have felt emotionally, mentally, or physically exhausted while using these services.
The intermittent dopamine spikes of app dating cannot replace the rich, challenging process of learning about oneself and building real connections. Ditching the swipe and hyping AI might look good on investor reports, but it won't address the deeper issues of social alienation, declining marriage rates, and online misogyny.
Will AI Make Dating Better?
As Tatum Hunter writes, “Our friction-free lives failed to make us happier, so now tech executives are pitching a new solution: maybe if we let AI take the wheel, this will all get less depressing.” The question remains whether AI can truly solve the loneliness and burnout that dating apps have exacerbated, or if it will simply add another layer of artificiality to romance.
