Airbnb rolls out AI search while planning voice and multiplayer AI

Search evolves beyond chatbots

Airbnb rolled out its new AI-powered search this week as part of its fall update. Co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky said the product is not the final form of travel discovery and that he remains opposed to a chatbot-only interface. He believes the next interface will sit between a chatbot and the original search experience, preserving the browsing and inspiration people use when planning a trip. Chesky cited travel studies showing that people derive more pleasure from planning and anticipating travel than from traveling itself.

Over the next three to six months, Airbnb plans to explore what Chesky calls multiplayer AI. The aim is to let several people, including groups planning a trip, use an AI experience at the same time. He also expects Airbnb's interface to combine deterministic, pre-designed elements with generative screens built on the fly. Monogram and Wabi are among the startups testing similar generative interface ideas.

Preparing for agents and app handoffs

Airbnb is also preparing for consumer AI agents that perform tasks for users. Chesky said the company needs stronger infrastructure and more agent-friendly software, including controls for browsing, messaging hosts, comparing options, verifying identity, using maps and adding other items. An agent may need to hand a user off to the Airbnb app or use a more robust software developer kit to bring the app's capabilities into another interface.

He expects interactions among agents, including agents from different apps, and said Airbnb could eventually place agents in Explore and customer service before developing a broader Airbnb agent. Chesky said the broader agent will probably be interoperable with MCP, a standard for linking AI agents with other software. He does not think consumer AI has been solved because agents need to interoperate, apps need richer interfaces, and the industry still lacks an operating system and developer kit designed for AI.

Voice agents planned for fall

Airbnb plans to introduce voice agents this fall for search and customer service. Chesky expects people eventually to speak to computers more often than they type as voice input gains ground in note-taking apps and AI tools. He said voice will be a key part of how users interact with Airbnb. The company is also using AI to ship features faster. Personally, Chesky said AI lets him retrieve information directly and reduces the number of meetings he needs, describing it as a way to cut communication layers.