Technology

Bumble’s new CEO talks about her key mission: diversifying the company

Published

1 month ago

March 29, 2024

IAM

Since the Bumble hit IPO at the height of the pandemic, investor enthusiasm for the dating site has cooled. At least Bumble stock is currently trading at around $11 per share, a far cry from the $76 it reached on its first day as a public company in February 2021.

Investors are, after all, fickle, which is a challenge for nearly every publicly traded company. The greater concern for Bumble is user fatigue. People aren’t downloading dating apps as enthusiastically as they once were, which suggests less subscription revenue. Younger people, especially, are wanting to use other platforms to search out love, including TikTok, and even Snapchat Discord.

Now it’s Lidiane Jones’ job to reverse these trends. This is the difficult task facing many CEOs tasked with rescuing businesses from the post-pandemic doldrums: in publishingIN retail sales and Automotive branchamongst other industries. The end result is, after all, uncertain. But Jones, who was recruited to Bumble in January from Slack — where she was also hired as chief change officer and left after just 10 months — has a game plan, as she recently explained over a din of lunchtime diners at a San Francisco restaurant.

Some of them are related to artificial intelligence, which Bumble’s rivals are also leaning into this harder. Part of this has to do with “margin expansion.” Jones told me that lots of it’s about bringing joy back to an experience that isn’t any longer enjoyable for nearly half of the participants. Much of that conversation follows, edited for length and clarity.

Like many CEOs right away, you’ve got found yourself in a situation where you’ve got needed to lay off people almost immediately – in Bumble’s case, 30% of your 1,200 employees. That’s quite a bit to know quickly. How did you take care of it?

I had some onboarding occurring before I even began. (Bumble founder) Whitney (Wolfe Herd) was incredibly involved in my onboarding process, which put me on a quick track to learning the organization. She really supported me. I believe it made an enormous difference. I’m also deeply convinced that in case you are planning a change, be really thorough and thoughtful in order not to reveal the company to an extended, multi-stage process.

In the second quarter of this 12 months, you relaunch the Bumble app. I read that you simply are reconsider whether women should make the first movewhich looks as if an enormous change.

Our brand awareness is so high it’s amazing. And in case you ask anyone about Bumble, they’ll say it’s about women, and the core of that does not change. We are a company that actually cares about empowering women.

But as we approach our tenth anniversary, it’s an amazing time to think about how we are able to best serve our mission. For us, it’s really about how we express women’s empowerment today and over the next 10 years. What we really need to do is move from women taking the first step to women deciding (who should take the first step). We give women more control and suppleness to decide on what is true for them.

By inviting women to make the first move, do you’re thinking that Bumble has had an impact on who uses the platform? Friends have told me that men they meet on the platform are likely to be more passive, which sometimes causes them dismay.

Historically, we have seen that lots of men who consider in women’s empowerment will come to Bumble. I’ve heard this sentiment about passivity (men) a number of times, but not that always. Our ultimate goal is definitely to offer our customers with an amazing experience.

Other areas of interest include security and artificial intelligence. What can Bumble users expect after the relaunch?

If you’re thinking that about the development of this amazing technology in the context of dating, it is barely pretty much as good and as protected as the company’s data security and security practices. Our customers’ privacy and trust have all the time been extremely strong; we have now all the time had a high bar for healthy connections.

We’ve developed lots of AI and lots of technology over the last 10 years that actually protects in-app behavior, and we are able to tune the models to reflect our values and security guidelines. But we would like to go even further. An enormous a part of Bumble’s DNA advocates for policies that make women feel protected, and we would like to be at the forefront of not only driving the great advancements in technology, but in addition advocating for policies that keep people protected online.

Bumble has long physically verified its users to make sure user profiles should not bots or scams, but doesn’t check criminal background. Will this modification with artificial intelligence?

We check the background. We will certainly work with different (players). But for me it is a priority. I believe that is one other essential step for us.

What else should people know about the upcoming update?

This is actually the starting of a new pace of innovation for Bumble. This is the starting of a new set of experiences. We update the appearance of the profile, we update the visual language of the application, we would like to have more contact with our users, and the tone of voice must be fun and joyful. We’re taking a look at AI to assist amplify a few of the turning points in people’s lives which might be particularly concerning, like making a profile, which will be really difficult. We really have the desire to make dating fun again – that is really the most vital thing.

User fatigue is difficult to beat. Will the new application be accompanied by a new user acquisition strategy?

Bumble has all the time been great at social marketing: organizing events and finding ambassadors who really need to represent the brand. This has been somewhat disrupted during the pandemic; we’re taking this moment before our launch to resume lots of community events because there are lots of people who find themselves looking forward to connecting in person again, and that is the place to begin.

Bumble has all the time been about greater than just dating. Dating plays an enormous role on this, but we have now all the time believed that connections and friendships are needed, so we’re increasing our investment in our capability for friendship because we consider that many individuals just want to begin by hanging out with other people.

Bumble for Friends launched last 12 months. Will we ever see you develop this as a standalone entity?

We are still collecting customer feedback. I’ve heard enthusiastic cases of each. We’re still investigating it.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com

Related Topics:bumble datingapps online dating

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Fake AI Photos of Rihanna at the Met Gala Trick Social Media Users

Published

6 hours ago

May 8, 2024

IAM

A disorder indeed.

Fake AI photos of Rihanna at the Met Gala fooled social media users into pondering she was walking the red carpet.

According to , Rihanna missed the event, which took place on May 6, because of the flu. However, her “photos” continued to flow into on social media. Deepfake images presented an incredibly realistic photo founder of Fenty Beauty. She wore a wealthy white dress decorated with flowers matching this yr’s theme, “Garden of Time.”

However, upon further evaluation, it turned out that the photos were a hoax. Rihanna wasn’t the only victim. The Associated Press reported that other singers reminiscent of Katy Perry have fallen victim to artificial intelligence generators. Her AI photos gained traction to this extent where Perry needed to disclose to her mother that the photos weren’t real, posting a screenshot of the conversation on her Instagram Story. Rihanna herself has not commented on this matter yet.

The photos are the result of generative artificial intelligence, typically used to create photos that might not otherwise have been created. While this is not the first time this technology has been used against celebrities, more nefarious uses have led to problems in the past. Sexually explicit photos of Taylor Swift went viral earlier this yr, prompting X to dam searches for them.

As the use of AI increases, so do the potential consequences. Currently, regulations are still developing to guard individuals from the harmful effects of this technology. US teens deemed ‘image-based sexual abuse’ use AI ‘nudification’ app to abuse young girls. Fake nude photos are one other way revenge porn perpetuates itself, prompting lawmakers to take motion as AI image generators develop into more available.

Despite the relatively innocuous nature of the Met Gala image fraud, the incident actually raises the growing problem of unregulated AI images, especially when the masses are unable to tell apart the real from the fake.

This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com

Technology

Google Wallet is now available in India

Published

13 hours ago

May 8, 2024

IAM

Google on Wednesday launched its digital wallet in India with local integration, almost two years after it relaunched the app as a digital wallet platform in the US

As TechCrunch reported last month, Google Wallet will run in India alongside the prevailing Google Pay app, which is able to remain the corporate’s payment app in the country. In February, Google replaced its Pay app with Wallet in the US.

“Google Pay isn’t going anywhere. Google Pay is our primary payment example,” Ram Papatla, CEO and director of engineering for India at Google, said at a press conference in New Delhi. “The wallet is specifically tailored to address non-payment use cases.”

Google Wallet will enable Android users in India to store and access boarding passes, gift cards, event tickets and loyalty cards. You can add all of it via a QR code, barcode or link shared in Gmail, or via the dedicated Add to Google Wallet button available in partner apps.

The app may also store public transport tickets and means that you can create passes from any image containing a barcode or QR code, equivalent to airline boarding passes, luggage tags or parking receipts.

Initially, Google Wallet will work with 20 brands including PVR Inox, Flipkart, Air India, MakeMyTrip, Pine Labs and Ixigo. It has also roped in local transport operators equivalent to Kochi Metro, Hyderabad Metro, VRL Travels and Abhibus. Additionally, the corporate has partnered with system integrators Wavelynx and Alert Enterprise to enable users to store and access corporate IDs.

According to the newest data from Counterpoint shared with TechCrunch, Android continues to dominate the smartphone market in India with a market share of 93%. In 2023, of the 152 million smartphones shipped to the country, 140 million were Android-based. The smartphone penetration rate this yr was 70%, up from 66% in 2021, in response to the research firm.

All this provides Google a solid reason to launch Wallet in India. However, it might face competition from Samsung Wallet, which the South Korean company offers as an all-in-one digital wallet and payments app. Apple also has a Wallet app for iPhone users in the country, although the app doesn’t have many local integrations. WhatsApp messenger also means that you can get virtual boarding passes and travel tickets from platforms like MakeMyTrip and state metro train operators.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com

Technology

will.i.am talks life-changing investments in Tesla and Beats By Dre

Published

20 hours ago

May 8, 2024

IAM

will.i.am, Investments, changed my life, Beats by Dre, AI, Tesla

will.i.am has at all times been one step ahead of the competition in relation to engineering and technology. The Grammy-winning artist even showed he believed in Tesla before Elon Musk took over.

Leader of the Black Eyes Peas brought his wealthy musical knowledge, business and technology in the NORE “Drink Champs” program. There, will.i.am talked in regards to the first investments he made in two corporations that “changed” his life for the higher.

According to the “Let’s Get Started” hitmaker, he received a stake in Tesla two years before Musk joined the corporate as CEO in 2008. By the time Musk took ownership of the automobile and clean energy company, will.i.am was already in his next enterprise, co-founding Beats By Dre a few years before Apple acquired the brand.

“I invested in Tesla in 2006, before Elon took over (the company) – around the same time,” he told NORE. “And then I used to be a part of Beats. And then Apple bought Beats from us. So you are talking about two corporations that modified my life. So I say each.

will.i.am played Drink Champs’ signature game of This or That when he answered whether he preferred Elon Musk or Steve Jobs in the tech innovation category. His interest in the industry comes naturally to a Los Angeles native who attended a highschool specializing in science, engineering and math.

He earned a number of money due to his natural passion for technology and business. He played his role in a personal investment group even him shares in corporations valued at billions of dollars, corresponding to OpenAI, Anthropic, Runaway and Hugging Face.

The “Scream and Shout” rapper/producer not only invests, but additionally invents his own technology products. will.i.am became an early entrepreneur at Viv Labs, which Google acquired for roughly $500 million. By 2015, he invested in OpenAI when it was funded by billionaires Reid Hoffman, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Amazon Web Services and other tech moguls.

Most recently, will.i.am ventured into FYI, an AI-powered productivity app that permits creators to collaborate and communicate on digital asset management projects.

“Everything will soon change and we will witness a social redefinition that will balance inequalities,” he says in regards to the evolution of artificial intelligence.

“People who have been underserved will be able to use these new tools and technologies to solve their problems and create new industries, and yesterday’s industries will collapse with the wave of transformation.”

This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com