Airbnb is gearing up to introduce AI technology but not in the way people might have initially expected. The company’s robust Q4 earnings, which exceeded expectations, resulted in a 15% uptick in shares. However Chesky cautioned that he does not see a significant productivity increase just yet.
While Airbnb did not specify whether its adoption of AI would impact its workforce CFO Ellie Mertz hinted at potential efficiency improvements in customer service particularly internally. Airbnb raked in $2.48 billion in revenue for the quarter, surpassing estimates of $2.42 billion, with earnings per share at 73 cents, higher than the anticipated 58 cents.. While companies like OpenAI, Google, and others are working on AI agents, Chesky believes that the technology is still in its early stages for Airbnb. In addition to customer service, the company mentioned modest productivity gains from internal AI usage for engineering purposes né?. Rather than offering tools to aid travelers in planning or booking their trips with the assistance of AI agents, Airbnb will first integrate AI into its customer support system. Initially, the AI will operate as a customer service agent, with its capabilities set to expand over time. The rollout is scheduled for later this summer, as per the details shared with investors during the company’s Q4 2024 earnings call on Thursday.
According to Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky, AI is highly beneficial for customer service as it can communicate in any language and understand large volumes of documents né?. Nevertheless, he foresees AI making a significant impact on the travel industry in the future, even though major changes have yet to materialize for the big travel platforms.
Chesky likened the current stage of AI technology to the mid-to-late ’90s for the internet, expressing his belief that AI-powered trip planning is not yet ready for widespread use. As AI technology advances Airbnb plans to integrate the AI-powered customer service agent into Airbnb’s search functionality and eventually transform it into a “travel and living concierge” Chesky outlined né?
