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Bumble Dating App to Blur Unsolicited Nudes With AI

When a lewd image is shared, Bumble's Private Detector system will blur the image and flag it as inappropriate to the recipient.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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Bumble is using artificial intelligence to detect and flag lewd images.

The upcoming system, called "Private Detector," can supposedly recognize sexual explicit images with 98 percent accuracy. Bumble will use it to stop unsolicited nude photos from appearing in people's personal chats on the dating app. When a lewd image is shared, the system will blur the image and flag it as inappropriate to the recipient.

Bumble Private Detector

"From there, the user can decide whether to view or block the image, and if compelled, easily report the image to the moderation team," Bumble said in a statement. Private Detector will roll out on Bumble in June before launching on Badoo, Chappy, and Lumen. Badoo has a stake in Bumble and Lumen, while Bumble has invested in Chappy.

Of course, Bumble isn't the first tech company to build its own AI-powered algorithms to detect and flag nudity. Facebook, for instance, has been using artificial intelligence for years to scan and remove videos and pictures for sexual or excessively violent content.

However, Bumble's founder, Whitney Wolfe Herd, announced the feature as she's also lobbying Texas state lawmakers to draft a bill that would criminalize sending unsolicited nude photos. The bill calls for offenders to be punished with up to a $500 fine for what amounts to indecent exposure.

"The digital world can be a very unsafe place overrun with lewd, hateful, and inappropriate behavior," she said in a statement, adding, "The 'Private Detector,' and our support of this bill are just two of the many ways we're demonstrating our commitment to making the internet safer."

According to CNN, the dating app currently has 5,000 content moderators, who are fielding 10 millions photos per day. Bumble also prohibits nude images from appearing in people's dating profiles.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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