Airbnb Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky says the company intends to integrate ChatGPT’s artificial intelligence capabilities into its travel platform, but that the software is not yet ready for the level of performance Airbnb requires.
“The [software development kit] wasn’t quite robust enough for the things we want to do,” Chesky said during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Wednesday. He added that Airbnb would “probably” proceed with ChatGPT integration eventually, emphasizing that the company continues to evaluate multiple AI models as part of its broader technology roadmap.
Airbnb this week unveiled a major product update introducing new social and personalization features, including direct user messaging and a revised AI-driven assistant capable of modifying or canceling bookings in North America. The new assistant is part of the company’s wider effort to enhance automation and create a seamless travel experience powered by artificial intelligence.
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However, in a separate conversation with Bloomberg, Chesky acknowledged that OpenAI’s ChatGPT is still “not quite ready” to meet Airbnb’s operational and user-experience standards. He disclosed that the company is currently relying heavily on Alibaba’s Qwen model—a large language model developed by the Chinese technology conglomerate—alongside a blend of 13 different chatbots designed to power Airbnb’s AI capabilities.
“We’re all going to have to work together,” Chesky said. “AI is going to lift up a lot of companies. If they want to vertically integrate every single thing, that’s going to be very, very difficult.”
Airbnb’s Expanding AI Strategy
The latest update marks Airbnb’s most ambitious step toward AI-driven personalization since it launched its “Airbnb Rooms” product earlier this year, aimed at restoring affordability and user trust amid rising global travel costs. Chesky said the company’s long-term vision is to use AI to transform Airbnb into a “personal travel concierge”, capable of learning user preferences, suggesting destinations, creating custom itineraries, and handling post-booking support autonomously.
The move comes as major travel and hospitality platforms race to incorporate generative AI tools to improve efficiency and engagement. Expedia, for instance, integrated ChatGPT earlier this year to help users build travel plans conversationally, while Booking.com launched its “AI Trip Planner” powered by OpenAI’s models.
For Airbnb, the integration of ChatGPT—or any comparable large language model—poses both opportunities and challenges. Unlike simple text-based assistants, Airbnb’s AI must operate within a complex, transaction-heavy environment, coordinating between guests, hosts, payments, and support systems while maintaining regulatory and safety compliance across over 220 countries and regions.
Why ChatGPT Isn’t “Quite Ready”
According to Chesky, Airbnb’s experiments with OpenAI’s toolkit revealed limitations in reliability, contextual understanding, and the ability to integrate seamlessly with Airbnb’s proprietary systems. The software development kit (SDK), he said, “wasn’t robust enough” to manage the advanced workflows Airbnb envisions—such as real-time itinerary modification, personalized upselling, and multilingual support for millions of users simultaneously.
AI experts note that while ChatGPT’s GPT-4 model excels at natural conversation, its effectiveness in high-stakes transactional systems depends on extensive fine-tuning and data integration. Airbnb’s use of Alibaba’s Qwen model—part of the Tongyi Qianwen AI suite—suggests the company is diversifying its AI infrastructure to improve resilience and avoid dependency on a single model provider.
Airbnb’s cautious approach contrasts with some of its tech peers. Expedia Group launched its ChatGPT plugin integration earlier this year, enabling users to create itineraries directly from the chatbot interface. Trip.com Group, China’s largest travel platform, is developing its own AI model in partnership with Baidu. Google, meanwhile, has integrated its Gemini-powered assistant into its travel products, offering itinerary recommendations and hotel search tools.
Chesky’s comments denote an industry-wide recognition that while AI has transformative potential, real-world deployment requires rigorous testing, data governance, and privacy safeguards.
The Airbnb CEO, who has long been close to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, said he believes generative AI will usher in a “consumer app boom” comparable to the smartphone revolution. However, he cautioned that most companies will need to collaborate rather than compete vertically in building end-to-end AI ecosystems.
Airbnb’s experiments with ChatGPT and Qwen represent the early stages of what could become a major transformation in online travel services. By merging conversational AI with its global accommodation network, Airbnb aims to eliminate traditional friction points—such as customer service backlogs, host-guest miscommunication, and manual trip planning—and replace them with automated, intelligent interactions.
Chesky has often framed Airbnb’s evolution as moving “from a listings company to a travel platform that knows you.” With AI at the core of that vision, the company’s eventual integration of ChatGPT—when the technology matures—could redefine how millions of travelers plan, book, and experience their trips worldwide.