Airbnb replaces human work roles with AI agents, says they’re cheaper and better
Airbnb says a custom-built AI agent is already handling about a third of its customer support conversations in North America, a move the company believes cuts costs while improving response quality. The system is set to be rolled out globally, potentially putting many human jobs at risk.
For years, customer support at Airbnb meant humans took calls from guests locked out of apartments or hosts worried about last-minute cancellations. That picture is silently changing. The company says a custom-built AI agent is now handling about a third of customer support requests in North America and it plans to take the system worldwide, putting many human job roles at risk. This push is driven by a simple belief inside Airbnb’s leadership that machines can now do a great deal of this work faster, more cheaply, and in many cases better than people.
One third of Airbnb support conversations are now handled by AI
The figures were revealed during Airbnb’s fourth-quarter earnings call. CEO Brian Chesky told investors that the AI agent has advanced well beyond testing and is already resolving about 33 percent of customer service issues in North America. Within a year, the company expects more than 30 percent of all support tickets globally to be handled by AI voice and chat tools. This will be in every language where Airbnb employs human agents, techcrunch Report.
“We think this is going to be huge because it will not only reduce the cost base of Airbnb customer service, but also make a big difference in the quality of service,” Chesky said.
There is a practical reality behind that confidence. Customer support is expensive, difficult to scale during peak travel times, and often repetitive. Airbnb believes that software can take over many of those interactions and users won’t feel as if they’ve been handed over to a machine.
Why does Airbnb believe that machines can work better than humans?
Chesky didn’t say AI is better at everything. But he clarified that routine issues like bookings, changes, refunds and basic disputes require speed and continuity. He suggested that it mattered more than the human voice on the other end. AI agents aren’t overwhelmed during the holiday season, don’t require shift rotation, and can work in all languages at once.
Airbnb has not discussed what this means for staffing levels. Yet, by talking openly about lower costs and better results in the same breath, the company is acknowledging that customer support no longer needs to increase headcount in the first place.
The more uncomfortable question sits just below the surface: If one-third of support is already automated, how much human involvement will still be required even as the system is further improved?
AI becomes central to Airbnb’s future plans
Customer support is just one part of Airbnb’s AI push. The company recently brought on Ahmed Al-Dahle, previously a senior AI leader at Meta, to help redesign the way the platform works from the inside out.
Chesky said Airbnb wants to build an app that understands its users, helps guests plan trips, helps hosts manage their listings and runs the company more efficiently as it grows. He has also argued that stand-alone AI chatbots cannot replace Airbnb’s ecosystem, which includes verified identities, millions of reviews, and direct communication between guests and hosts.
Time matters. Airbnb beat expectations, reporting fourth-quarter revenue of $2.78 billion and is expected to post low double-digit growth this year. That financial comfort gives the company scope to experiment with technology that directly impacts customers — and to live with the results.
