Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky plans to start a new AI company

Airbnb Inc. Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky is starting a new artificial intelligence lab, according to several people familiar with the matter, marking his first foray into the global AI race.

Chesky plans to create an AI venture to develop artificial intelligence models and is considering a focus on user interaction and design, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the information is not public. He is in the early stages of funding the lab, one person said, and the details could change.

Chesky will remain CEO of Airbnb, several people said. He will not serve as chief executive of the new lab, one person said.

Chesky co-founded Airbnb nearly 20 years ago after studying design in college. In recent years, he has often said AI applications for travel and e-commerce require a rich user interface, rather than the kind of text-based chatbots popularized by OpenAI and Anthropic PBC. Unlike online travel rivals Expedia Group Inc. and Booking Holdings Inc., Airbnb has not partnered with OpenAI to create a plug-in within ChatGPT, as Chesky has said the AI startup’s tools aren’t robust enough.

Representatives for Chesky and Airbnb declined to comment.

Chesky is in the midst of transforming Airbnb into a “do-it-all” travel app, including new add-on services that he hopes could eventually bring in $1 billion or more in revenue a year. Airbnb employees have embraced AI coding tools to help accelerate the expansion, with new business pilots spun up in weeks rather than years, Chesky said in an interview last month.

As a rare founder-CEO of a Fortune 500 company, Chesky has been deeply involved in setting the product and business vision of Airbnb. His hands-on approach inspired entrepreneur and investor Paul Graham to coin the term “founder mode” in 2024.