Airbnb rolled out its new AI-powered search this week as part of its fall update, a significant step for a company that has been slow and deliberate about AI. Co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky has said in the past that a chatbot-only interface is not fit for travel discovery. With more AI on the way to the Airbnb app, I caught up with Chesky over Zoom to talk about how the company is approaching it, where interfaces are headed, why consumer AI still isn’t working, and what role voice will play.
Chesky hasn’t changed his mind on chatbots. He said they aren’t good for browsing or shopping because they give you a few options at a time, and you have to take multiple turns before reaching a result. But he doesn’t see the current version of Airbnb’s search as the final form either: its interface will evolve over time.
