Bumble says goodbye to swipes as AI matchmaking reshapes online dating

Artificial intelligence is going to rule the dating landscape. Hence, the era of swipe is coming to an end.

Bumble dating is set to witness this change very soon as the company will scrap the swipe gesture on its app and replace it with an AI-powered option.

Talking to Axios in an interview, Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe revealed the plans of shifting the online dating to AI-driven matchmaking.

"We are going to be saying goodbye to the swipe and hello to something that I believe is revolutionary for the category," Wolfe Herd said.

"People are feeling exhausted, they're feeling fatigued. They feel like the swipe has degraded their love lives," she added.

“You will also see us take a much more deliberate approach to getting people offline versus just in what people refer to as dead-end chat zones.”

Talking about the potential strategy, Herd said, “We will be introducing more dynamic ways for somebody to express interest in your story, rather than just your profile, and this is going to drive more dynamic engagement, spark better conversation, and ultimately drive better KPIs across the board.”

The company is planning to introduce the changes during relaunch later this year.

While the specific mechanics of Bumble’s AI, and how it might differ from industry-standard algorithms, are still under wraps, the company began its foray into generative AI this past March.

Bumble is undergoing a significant shift by moving away from its signature requirement that women initiate all conversations.

"We will not force one gender over another to do something first," stated Whitney Wolfe Herd.

Despite this change, she maintained that the platform would still uphold the "essence of what was always meant to be women making the first move."

The overhaul is seen as a strategic move to increase paid user base as in the first quarter of 2026, Bumble’s paid users dropped approximately 21 percent to 3.2 million, down from 4 million last year.