Airbnb Plans to Introduce AI for Customer Support, Not Trip Planning — Yet

Airbnb is gearing up to integrate AI technology into its platform, but it’s not what travelers might have expected. Rather than focusing on AI-driven tools to assist with trip planning or booking, the company is starting with customer support enhancements.

During Airbnb’s Q4 2024 earnings call, co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky shared that AI will soon play a significant role in customer service. The rollout is expected later this summer and aims to improve support by leveraging AI’s ability to speak any language and process vast amounts of information. Initially, the AI will function as a customer service agent, gradually expanding its capabilities over time.

Chesky explained, “AI can do an incredible job for customer service. It can speak any language and understand thousands of pages of documents.” However, when it comes to broader applications like AI trip planning, Chesky believes the technology isn’t ready just yet.

“Here’s what I think about AI,” he said. “I think it’s still really early. It’s probably similar to… the mid-to-late ’90s for the Internet.” While some companies like OpenAI and Google are developing AI agents to take on complex tasks, Chesky feels it’s too soon to integrate this functionality into Airbnb. “I don’t think it’s quite ready for prime time,” he added.

In the future, Airbnb plans to expand the AI-powered customer service agent into other areas. It will eventually support features like search and, down the line, could evolve into a “travel and living concierge,” according to Chesky.

Beyond customer service, Airbnb has also been exploring AI internally to enhance productivity, particularly in engineering. While Chesky acknowledged small gains, he emphasized that AI hasn’t yet led to a major breakthrough in productivity. “I don’t think it’s flowing to a fundamental step-change in productivity yet,” he said. However, he projects that in a few years, there could be more noticeable improvements, estimating a potential 30% boost in engineering efficiency over the medium term.

When asked about AI’s impact on staffing, Airbnb didn’t provide specific details. Nonetheless, CFO Ellie Mertz suggested that AI could lead to greater efficiencies, particularly in customer service. “In terms of ’25 and the outlook there, I would say there’s incremental opportunities across our variable costs, so areas like payment processing and customer service opportunities to just be, frankly, a little bit more efficient and to deliver some margin expansion there,” Mertz told investors.

Despite the cautious approach to AI, Airbnb posted strong Q4 earnings, with shares jumping 15% after beating expectations. The company reported $2.48 billion in revenue—above the $2.42 billion estimate—and earnings per share of 73 cents, surpassing the projected 58 cents. For more details, check out coverage on CNBC.