Airbnb CEO launches AI research lab focusing on user design

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is launching a new artificial intelligence research lab, marking his direct entry into the competitive AI landscape. The initiative, which is in its early planning stages, will focus on developing advanced AI models with an emphasis on user interaction and design, according to people familiar with the matter. Chesky will continue to serve as Airbnb’s chief executive and will not lead the new lab himself.

The move places Chesky in a novel competitive position relative to OpenAI, whose CEO, Sam Altman, he has advised for years. The two met in 2006 through the startup incubator Y Combinator, which helped launch Airbnb. Chesky later provided counsel to Altman on managing OpenAI’s rapid growth and played a role in rallying support for Altman’s return to the company following his brief ouster in late 2023.

Chesky’s decision to establish a proprietary AI lab stems from a publicly stated belief that current large language models are insufficient for his vision. He has argued that applications in travel and commerce require rich, visually driven interfaces rather than the text-based chatbots that dominate the market. This perspective has led Airbnb to avoid formal...