AI agents aren’t the ‘new Google,’ says Airbnb CEO

After a second-quarter earnings beat, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky shared his ideas on the corporate’s AI technique, cautioning buyers that AI chatbots can’t but be considered the “new Google.” That’s, AI chatbots, whereas probably driving new results in the journey and providers enterprise, aren’t completely a alternative for the referrals that the dominant search engine brings.

No less than not right now.

“I feel we’re nonetheless sort of feeling out the house,” the exec advised buyers on the Q2 earnings name. “The factor I need to warning is I don’t suppose that AI brokers — I don’t suppose we must always consider chatbots like Google — I don’t suppose we must always consider them because the ‘new Google’ but.”

This, Chesky defined, is as a result of AI fashions aren’t “proprietary.”

“We additionally should do not forget that the mannequin powering ChatGPT isn’t proprietary. It’s not unique to ChatGPT. We — Airbnb — also can use the API, and there are different fashions that we are able to use,” he stated.

Portray a broader image of the AI panorama, Chesky stated that along with chatbots and different AI brokers, there might be custom-built startups designed for particular purposes, in addition to different incumbents which have made the shift to AI.

“One of many issues we’ve seen is it’s not sufficient to simply have … the very best mannequin. You might have to have the ability to tune the mannequin and construct a {custom} interface for the best utility. And I feel that’s the important thing,” he stated.

The corporate advised buyers it can look to make the most of AI in a lot of methods.

Airbnb shared throughout the name that its AI customer support agent within the U.S. decreased the proportion of visitors contacting a human agent by 15%, as an illustration. This was truly tougher than tackling the lower-hanging fruit involving journey planning and inspiration, Chesky stated, as a result of AI brokers performing customer support can’t hallucinate. They’ve to have the ability to be correct and useful always.

Airbnb’s customer support agent was constructed utilizing 13 completely different fashions and educated on tens of 1000’s of conversations, and is at the moment obtainable in English within the U.S. This 12 months, Airbnb will roll it out to extra languages, and subsequent 12 months, it can develop into extra customized and agentic. Which means it might be capable of perceive if somebody reaches out to cancel a reservation; it might not solely be capable of inform them how to take action, however it might additionally do it for them. The agent might additionally assist plan and e-book journeys.

Plus, AI will come to Airbnb’s search subsequent 12 months, the CEO stated.

Nevertheless, the corporate has not totally fleshed out its plans for working with third-party AI brokers, though it’s contemplating it. Customers nonetheless want an Airbnb account to make a reserving.

Due to this, Chesky doesn’t suppose agentic AI would flip its enterprise right into a commodity, the way in which that reserving flights has develop into. As an alternative, he sees AI as “probably attention-grabbing lead technology” for the corporate.

“… I feel the important thing factor goes to be for us to steer and develop into the primary place for individuals to e-book journey on Airbnb. So far as whether or not or not we combine with AI brokers, I feel that’s one thing that we’re definitely open to,” he stated.

Airbnb beat analysts’ expectations within the quarter with income of $3.1 billion and earnings per share of $1.03, however the inventory dropped on its forecast of slower progress within the second half of the 12 months.