Whitney Wolfe Herd has a vision for modern romance. More than a decade after founding Bumble, in 2014, she’s back at the dating-app company—and this time, she wants to get things right. For too long, she argues, people have been swiping in the dark: evaluating other multifaceted beings on the basis of a few pictures and superficial bits of description, being evaluated in turn, feeling judged and empty. Now, she says, she’s seeking a new way to inject some warmth and humanity into the process—using, as she recently told The Wall Street Journal, “the world’s smartest and most emotionally intelligent matchmaker.” She’s talking about AI.

The titans of online dating have heard the message loud and clear: Their customers are burnt out and dissatisfied, like department-store patrons who’ve been

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