Half of Airbnb users in the U.S. are now interacting with its AI customer service agent

Half of Airbnb users in the U.S. are now using the company’s AI-powered customer service agent, CEO Brian Chesky said Thursday during an earnings call. The tool was quietly rolled out last month and is expected to be available to all U.S. users in the coming weeks.

Chesky said the AI assistant has already led to a 15% drop in users needing to contact live support agents. While the technology is still in its early stages, he expects it to steadily improve.

“It’s going to get significantly more personalized and agentic over the years to come,” he said following the release of Airbnb’s first-quarter earnings.

Compared to other travel platforms racing to apply AI for trip planning and other complex tasks, Airbnb’s approach remains cautious. Expedia, for example, began promoting its ChatGPT-powered trip planning feature in 2023.

Chesky has previously expressed a preference for a gradual rollout. During the company’s last earnings call in February, he said Airbnb would begin by applying AI to customer service and expand from there.

“I don’t think it’s quite ready for prime time,” Chesky said of AI in trip planning, likening its current stage to the internet in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Airbnb reported higher revenue in the first quarter, but warned investors of slowing booking growth in the current quarter, citing economic uncertainty in the travel sector. The company’s stock was relatively flat as of Friday afternoon.