Whitney Wolfe Herd on returning as Bumble CEO, AI, and self-love | ReThinking with Adam Grant

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

August 15, 2025

Duration

32m

Channel

Re:Thinking with Adam Grant

Watch on YouTube

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📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

What will dating look like in the age of AI? Whitney Wolfe Herd is the founder and CEO of Bumble, the popular dating app that has helped millions of people meet their match. In this episode, Whitney chats with Adam about her vision for the future of dating online and offline, her decision to take a break from leading Bumble, and the importance of platonic love. They also debate whether or not you have to learn to love yourself before loving someone else, and imagine a world in which AI agents vet potential partners before a first date. Follow Host: Adam Grant (Instagram: @adamgrant | LinkedIn: @adammgrant | Website: adamgrant.net/) Guest: Whitney Wolfe Herd (Instagram: @whitney) Links bumble.com Subscribe to TED Instagram: @ted YouTube: @TED TikTok: @tedtoks LinkedIn: @ted-conferences Website: ted.com Podcasts: ted.com/podcasts The TED Audio Collective is a collection of podcasts for the curious. The TED Audio Collective videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organiz...). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com. 00:00 Intro 00:34 Stepping down and returning to Bumble 05:03 Zooming out 08:59 The future of Bumble 10:08 Scaling love 12:12 Dating with AI 15:05 Finding friends and groups 20:02 The worst advice given to founders 20:51 What have dating apps done to culture? 28:14 The future of love 29:29 Should you find yourself before you find love? 32:15 Takeaways

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Whitney Wolfe Herd

  guest

  Founder of Bumble and returning CEO, discussing online dating, leadership, and AI-driven matchmaking.

• Adam Grant

  host

  Organizational psychologist and host of ReThinking, interviewing Whitney Wolfe Herd about identity, work, and relationships.

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Re:Thinking with Adam Grant, featuring Whitney Wolfe Herd and Adam Grant, Whitney Wolfe Herd on returning as Bumble CEO, AI, and self-love | ReThinking with Adam Grant explores whitney Wolfe Herd’s return to Bumble: love, AI, perspective, boundaries Whitney Wolfe Herd stepped down due to burnout and loss of joy, then returned after gaining perspective and rebuilding boundaries between her identity and Bumble.

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