Airbnb is a leading accommodation platform that has been experiencing continual growth in recent years. The company recently reported a record high in nights and experiences booked in the first quarter of 2020, with gross booking value reaching a stunning $20.4 billion. CEO Brian Chesky also shared insights on Airbnb’s latest initiatives around artificial intelligence, which will further enhance the customer experience.
Chesky said Airbnb is first and foremost a service provider rather than an infrastructure company, and won’t be investing in large language models as is being done by firms such as Google, Microsoft Research, and Anthropic. Instead, Airbnb will focus on the interface and tuning of models based on customer data that the company already has. Furthermore, the objective of the next generation of AI concierge functions is to develop a robust profile to be used to ask questions like who are you and what do you want with the intent to build the ultimate travel community.
In order to make hosting as mainstream as travel, the company recently announced a suite of initiatives such as ‘Airbnb Rooms’ and is launching a major brand campaign this summer to market its services more effectively.
Brian Chesky is a well-known technology entrepreneur who serves as the CEO of Airbnb. He studied industrial engineering and technology management at the University of Illinois and later went on to become the founding CTO of Silicon Valley-based digital payment provider Avatron Software. In 2008, he co-founded Airbnb and went on to become its CEO. During his tenure, the service has grown remarkably, becoming the largest travel platform globally. He also serves on the board of the MIT Media Lab and the World Economic Forum.
