Bumble announced Thursday that it is adding a series of AI-driven features aimed at turning matches into lasting connections, including the ability to provide feedback and guidance on users’ profiles, photos, and prompts.
The dating app’s new AI-suggested profile guidance tool will be rolled out globally and will provide “personalized, actionable feedback” to users’ backgrounds and prompts. For US users, the profile guidance feature can be enhanced with an AI photo feedback tool that “helps you choose your best photos and show your most authentic self.”
According to Bumble’s blog post explaining these features, the insights gained from these AI tools don’t seem particularly groundbreaking. For example, Bumble says its AI photo tools could encourage you to move away from photos of you wearing sunglasses that cover your face and add more diverse photos, such as photos taken outdoors or with friends. Advice that might have been easy to get from a friend 10 years ago is still new to many.
In Canada, Bumble is testing another non-AI feature called “Suggest a Date.” If the conversation stalls, users can express their willingness to meet in person, which the company says is “an easy way to let people know you’re ready to connect offline.”
Of course, another way people “let someone know they’re ready to hook up offline” is by literally asking someone out on a date. But realistically, users don’t seem to be taking the plunge, so having a way to express interest within the app could motivate some potential couples to move the conversation to something more realistic.
“With Suggest a Date, we give our members a way to create a clear statement of intent and move toward meeting in the real world, bypassing traditional interactions,” Bumble CTO Vivek Sagi said in a statement. “Reducing friction in the moments that matter most allows people to connect clearly and confidently, increasing the likelihood that meaningful relationships will form offline.”
Bumble and other popular dating apps like Match Group’s Tinder and Hinge have all adopted AI-powered features in recent months. For example, in December, Hinge introduced a tool that creates more interesting conversation starters than “How are you doing?”
Tinder may take things a step further. In Australia, Tinder is piloting a tool called Chemistry. The tool asks users to provide the app with access to their camera roll, which raises concerns about the amount of data being fed to the AI tool. Based on a user’s camera roll and answers to a series of questions, the AI can learn more about that person’s interests and personality, possibly reducing “swipe fatigue” and suggesting better matches.
Meta’s Facebook dating tool does something similar. In October, we launched a feature that asks you to use AI on photos in your camera roll that you haven’t yet shared to suggest AI edits.
As these companies try to come up with new ways to satisfy users, some young people are abandoning online dating altogether and instead seeking real-world experiences that don’t involve apps.
