Airbnb Expands AI Across Search, Engineering, and Internal Tools

[bonk]

Beyond customer-facing features, Airbnb is increasing AI adoption across its entire organization. Chesky highlighted plans to use large language models for customer discovery, engineering productivity, and operational efficiency. The company’s new CTO, Ahmad Al-Dahle — previously involved with Meta’s Llama models — is expected to help leverage Airbnb’s extensive identity and review data to enhance personalization and platform intelligence.

Internally, Airbnb reported that 80% of its engineers already use AI tools, with a goal of reaching 100%. The broader AI push comes alongside strong financial performance, with fourth-quarter revenue reaching $2.78 billion, up 12% year over year. As competition intensifies in travel tech, Airbnb is positioning AI as a core pillar of its next phase of growth.

[kevin1]

competition in travel tech is wild, ai might be their only edge at this point