What Is Bee by Bumble?
How Bumble’s AI-powered dating assistant works, what Dates powered by Bee offers, and who can access the New York City pilot.
Bumble Bee is a new AI dating assistant and personal matchmaker, being tested with a small group of invited Bumble members in New York City. The new service aims to get to know users through private chat conversations around values, relationship goals, communication style, lifestyle, and dating intentions. These insights will then be leveraged to help the user find more compatible matches.
Bee is currently in a limited pilot; Bumble has not announced a wider launch date.
The new AI assistant will initially be used for a new Bumble dating experience called “Dates” that uses AI to recommend matches. In the future, Bumble plans to move Bee into more of a matchmaker role, where it can offer date suggestions and request anonymous feedback on matches.
Who created Bee?
Bee was created by Bumble as the company expands its use of AI and experiments with new ways for people to find matches beyond swiping. Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd introduced Bee in March 2026 as an AI assistant that could learn more about users than what typically fits on a dating profile.
How does Bee matchmaking work?
Bee asks Bumble users a series of questions in a private chat about themselves, their relationship goals, values, lifestyle, and what they’re looking for in another person. These conversations give Bee more insights than a traditional dating profile alone, empowering it to provide more personalized advice and match recommendations.
Bee’s learnings from these conversations are then used to power Bumble Dates, Bumble’s matchmaking experience, where it identifies potential matches and shares them directly with the user rather than requiring them to swipe through profiles. Bee can also provide more context about why two people may be compatible, giving users more information about a potential match before deciding whether they want to connect.
Does Bee use AI?
Yes, Bee is an AI-powered personal dating assistant. Bee uses information gathered through its chat conversations with users to build a more detailed understanding of their dating preferences, values, relationship goals, and lifestyle. It can then use those insights to help identify people who may be compatible.
Who is Bee for?
Bee is designed for people who want more support in finding compatible matches and less time spent searching through profiles themselves. For users who have clear relationship goals and interests, it can be especially appealing to have their values, lifestyle, and relationship goals play a larger role in who they meet.
With Bumble Dates, Bee narrows the dating pool and recommends potential matches based on what it has learned about each user. For people who like the idea of matchmaking, but still want to have the option of swiping through Bumble, Bee offers a middle ground between traditional swiping and a more personalized matchmaking service.
Is Bee available?
Bumble is currently testing Dates powered by Bee with a limited group of users in New York City. The feature is not yet available to everyone on Bumble, and the company has not announced a date for a wider launch or which cities may get access next.
Looking for a matchmaker now?
Bee isn’t widely available yet, but you don’t have to wait to try a different approach to dating. Known is a matchmaking service already available in San Francisco and San Diego for singles who want to spend less time swiping and more time meeting people they’re actually compatible with.
Known gets to know you beyond what fits on a dating profile, from your values and relationship goals to the little things that make you, you. Your matchmaker searches for compatible people and introduces you when there’s someone they think you should meet. And when you both say yes, Known coordinates the booking details so all you have to do is show up for the date.
Explore Known as an alternative, or download Known to get started.