Bumble's AI icebreakers are mainly breaking EU law

Artificial Intelligence In December 2023, the dating platform Bumble introduced so-called AI Icebreakers to the “Bumble for Friends” section of the app. Powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the feature is designed to help you start a conversation by providing an AI-generated message. In order to do this, your personal profile information is fed into the AI system without Bumble ever obtaining your consent. Although the company repeatedly shows you a banner designed to nudge you into clicking “Okay”, which suggests that it relies on user consent, it actually claims to have a so-called “legitimate interest” to use data. noyb has therefore filed a complaint with the Austrian data protection authority. Complaint against Bumble (EN)OpenAI reads along. Around 50 million people use the dating app Bumble in order to find romantic partners, friends – or even business partners. While the app doesn’t provide specific user numbers for Europe, Germany alone accounted for 1.45 million users in 2024. Unfortu