Hajra Naz
Airbnb says its custom-built AI agent is now resolving roughly one-third of customer support requests across the U.S. and Canada, and the company plans to expand the system worldwide.
If the rollout succeeds, Airbnb expects that within a year, more than 30% of its total support tickets globally will be handled by AI-powered voice and chat systems—across every language where it currently employs human agents.
CEO Brian Chesky framed the shift as transformative during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
“We think this is going to be massive,” Chesky said. “Not only does this reduce the cost base of Airbnb customer service, but the quality of service is going to be a huge step change.”
His comments suggest Airbnb believes its AI systems could outperform human agents in resolving certain categories of issues – a bold claim as companies across industries test automation in customer service.
Building an AI-Native Airbnb
Airbnb also spotlighted its recent hire of CTO Ahmad Al-Dahle, recruited from Meta for his expertise in artificial intelligence. The company says his appointment signals a broader ambition: building what Chesky describes as an “AI-native” Airbnb experience.
Under that vision, the Airbnb app would evolve beyond a traditional search tool.
Rather than simply responding to queries, Chesky said the future app will “know you.”
He described a system capable of helping guests plan entire trips, assisting hosts in running their businesses more effectively, and improving Airbnb’s internal operations at scale.
Chesky emphasized Al-Dahle’s credentials to underscore the seriousness of the effort.
“Ahmad is one of the world’s leading AI experts,” he said. “He spent 16 years at Apple and most recently led the generative AI team at Meta that built the Llama models. He’s an expert at pairing massive technical scale with world-class design, which is exactly how we’re going to transform the Airbnb experience.”
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Defending Against AI Disruption
Like many companies navigating the AI transition, Airbnb’s leadership argues it holds unique advantages that generic AI chatbots cannot replicate.
“A chatbot doesn’t have our 200 million verified identities or our 500 million proprietary reviews,” Chesky told analysts. “And it can’t message the hosts, which 90% of our guests do.”
Rather than competing with AI platforms, Chesky pitched the idea of layering AI on top of Airbnb’s existing marketplace – using intelligence to enhance, not replace, the company’s core product.
He suggested this approach could accelerate growth rather than threaten it.
Airbnb reported $2.78 billion in fourth-quarter revenue, beating analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. For the year ahead, the company expects revenue growth in the “low double digits.” In the current quarter, it projects revenue between $2.59 billion and $2.63 billion, above Wall Street expectations of $2.53 billion.
Still, investors questioned whether AI-driven platforms could eventually enter the short-term rental market and compete more directly.
Chesky dismissed that concern, arguing that Airbnb’s value extends far beyond a simple booking interface.
“We’ve built this over 18 years,” he said. “We handle more than $100 billion in payments through the platform.”
He noted that Airbnb encompasses not just a consumer-facing app, but also a host ecosystem, customer service infrastructure, identity verification systems, and insurance protections – elements that would be difficult for a standalone chatbot to replicate quickly.
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AI as the New Top-of-Funnel
Chesky also described AI chatbots as serving a role similar to traditional search engines, generating top-of-funnel traffic. He claimed traffic coming from AI platforms is converting at higher rates than traffic from Google, suggesting that the broader shift toward AI-assisted discovery could ultimately benefit Airbnb.
Internally, Airbnb is already deploying AI in search. The company said AI-powered search features are currently enabled for a very small percentage of traffic as it experiments with making the experience more conversational. Sponsored listings are expected to be integrated into search results later on.
Airbnb also shared metrics on its internal AI adoption. While Spotify recently told investors its developers had relied almost entirely on AI tools for months, Airbnb offered a broader figure: 80% of its engineers are now using AI tools in their workflows. The company aims to raise that number to 100% in the near future.
Together, the moves reflect a company attempting not just to adopt AI, but to weave it into every layer of its operations – from customer support to trip planning to internal development – while betting that its marketplace scale will remain a durable advantage.
