Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says companies need to start building useful AI products

Want people to actually use AI? Then make it more useful according to Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky.

Speaking during a recent Power Players podcast appearance, Chesky said people are still using AI as an "interactive search product" but predicted further progress when it comes to interfaces, rather than just typing.

"I think part of it's a narrative issue that we're not talking about AI correctly," he said. "But part of it is we need to actually be developing more products that just regular people can use and say, 'I love AI because AI allows me to have a doctor on demand and I can't have that. I can't afford that.' And so I think we need more regular things."

Given Airbnb’s market, Chesky noted that the focus on largely enterprise-related AI innovation could be holding back broader adoption. He noted that 159 out of 175 startups at Y Combinator, where Chesky is a board member, focused on enterprise AI rather than consumer products.

"Maybe a simple way of saying it is we're getting really, really deep on enterprise, but there's been very little progress on consumer AI," he added.

AI backlash

Chesky said that it's in Silicon Valley's interest to make consumer apps that improve people's lives in order to shift increasingly negative opinions about the tech, warning that "regular people in the United States do not like AI."

This year has seen the start of a mainstream backlash against the technology, perhaps inevitable given the hype, but concerns have also been boosted by rising prices and environmental concerns around data centres.

Survey after survey also suggests many people simply don't like AI. Research via YouGov showed two-thirds of people weren't confident in the way businesses use generative AI, in particular with customer service.

A poll by Pew suggested just 16% of Americans think AI will prove to be a positive tool for society.

Chesky's argument is that building actually useful products powered by AI could help to undercut some of that negative sentiment – and he believes that will happen.

The Airbnb chief predicted that within in the next two or three years there will be a "renaissance around consumer AI that is going to begin to change daily life."

AI booster

Chesky has long been positive about AI. In 2023, he compared the technology's impact to electricity and said it will "change everyone's life."

In the podcast, he noted there haven’t yet been any major changes to our daily lives on par with the internet or iPhone.

Chesky also called for moving beyond the chatbot model, saying later that year that it should "augment humanity in a positive way".

Airbnb bought GamePlannerAI in November 2023, and earlier this year said AI was the "best thing that ever happened to Airbnb," in part thanks to a third of customer service tickets now handled by the technology.

After its last round of results, that number had jumped to 45% – despite those previously mentioned concerns about AI driven customer service.

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