After a beat of results in the second quarter, the CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, shared its reflections on the company’s AI strategy, warning investors that AI chatbots cannot yet be considered “new Google”. In other words, AI chatbots, while potentially leading new avenues to the travel and services company, do not fully replace the references that the dominant search engine brings.
At least not at this time.
“I think we are still feeling space,” the executive told investors on calling results in the second quarter. “The thing I want to warn is that I don’t think AI agents – I don’t think we should think of chatbots like Google – I don’t think we should consider them as” new Google “.”
This explained Chesky, is because AI models are not “owners”.
“We must also remember that the Powering Chatgpt model is not the owner. It is not exclusive to Chatgpt. We – Airbnb – can also use the API, and there are other models that we can use,” he said.
By painting a wider image of the AI landscape, Chesky said that in addition to chatbots and other AI agents, there will be tailor -made startups designed for specific applications, as well as other holders who have made the passage to AI.
“One of the things we have noticed is that it is not enough to have just … The best model. You must be able to adjust the model and create a personalized interface for the right application. And I think it’s the key,” he said.
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The company has told investors that it would seek to take advantage of AI in several ways.
Airbnb shared during the call according to which its AI customer service agent in the United States reduced the percentage of customers contacting a human agent by 15%, for example. It was actually more difficult than tackling the workforce involving the planning and inspiration of travel, said Chesky, as AI agents carrying out customer service cannot hallucinate. They must be able to be exact and useful at any time.
The Airbnb customer service agent was built using 13 different models and trained on tens of thousands of conversations, and is currently available in English in the United States this year, Airbnb will run it into more languages, and next year, it will become more personalized and aged. This means that it would be able to understand if someone holds out hand to cancel a reservation; It would not only be able to tell them how to do it, but it could also do it for them. The agent could also help plan and reserve trips.
In addition, AI will come to search for Airbnb next year, the CEO said.
However, the company has not fully expanded its plans to work with third -party AI agents, although it envisages it. Users still need an Airbnb account to make a reservation.
For this reason, Chesky does not think that the agent Ai transforms his activities into a commodity, the way in which the flight booking has become. Instead, he considers AI as a “potentially interesting generation of leads” for the company.
“… I think the main thing will be that we are going to direct and become the first place so that people reserve trips on Airbnb. As far as I was concerned whether or not we integrate ia agents, I think that is something to which we are certainly open,” he said.
Airbnb beat analysts’ expectations during the quarter with a turnover of $ 3.1 billion and a profit per share of $ 1.03, but the title dropped on its forecast for slower growth in the second half.
