Chesky Disses Rivals’ Chatbots — Calls Airbnb’s AI ‘Impossible to Replicate’
Photo Credit: Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky at Skift Global Forum in September 2022. Skift
Skift Take
In an era when speed to market is a given, Chesky is arguing that nice and easy does it will win the day. It would be better to say, "We are behind in our AI development, but we are confident that we will get to where we need to be."
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky pushed back against skepticism over the company’s slower pace on artificial intelligence, arguing that its “intentional path” toward a native AI platform is “our strongest defense against disintermediation.”
Chesky was addressing the fear AI platforms threaten Airbnb and other booking sites. And he criticized competitors who rushed to market with AI chatbots.
"While other companies rushed to bolt chatbots into their existing app, we started by solving the hardest problem, customer support," Chesky said, adding that Airbnb's AI solves one-third of support issues without the intervention of a live agent.
He didn't name rivals, but Booking Holdings and Expedia Group launched AI assistants in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
"A chatbot doesn't have our 200 million verified identities or our 500
