Airbnb says its custom-built AI agent now handles roughly a third of customer support issues in North America, and the company is preparing a broader rollout beyond the region. The update came as CEO Brian Chesky described a push to build an “AI-native” Airbnb experience that also includes early tests of AI-powered search for a small percentage of users.
Chesky said the company sees AI as a way to both lower customer service costs and improve service quality. He also said Airbnb expects AI to handle “significantly more” customer tickets over the next year as it expands to more parts of the world.
One-third of support, with global plans
Airbnb said its AI agent is handling about one-third of customer support inquiries in the U.S. and Canada. In Airbnb’s financial-results update, the company said that when users message its AI assistant, about a third of issues are resolved without needing an agent, and it has also seen a “significant reduction” in resolution time.
Those statements describe similar progress but use different framing on where the tool is currently rolled out. Airbnb’s results post said AI-powered customer support has been rolled out for English, French, and Spanish-speaking users across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and that the company expects to roll out AI customer support globally later this year.
Chesky said that if the rollout continues to go well, more than 30% of total customer support tickets could be handled by AI voice and chat in all languages where Airbnb also employs human customer service agents within a year. Another report echoed that goal, saying Airbnb intends to expand the capability globally and target over 30% of support requests being addressed via voice and chat assistants across all supported languages within the next year if the trial is successful.
AI search in early testing
Alongside customer support automation, Airbnb is testing AI-powered search designed to make it easier for guests to describe what they want and ask questions. Airbnb said early tests focus on giving guests a more natural way to describe what they are looking for and to ask questions about the listing and location.
Chesky said an AI search tool is live for a small percentage of users right now. Airbnb added that, over time, this AI search work is intended to evolve into a more comprehensive and intuitive search experience that extends through the trip, though it did not provide a definitive public release date.
TechCrunch also reported that Airbnb is already using AI to power its search for a “very small percentage” of its traffic while it experiments with making search more conversational. The same report said Airbnb plans to integrate sponsored listings within search later on.
“AI-native” plans and a new CTO
Airbnb has also highlighted a leadership hire tied to its AI roadmap: Ahmad Al-Dahle as chief technology officer. Chesky said Al-Dahle spent 16 years at Apple and most recently led the generative AI team at Meta that built the Llama models.
Chesky said Airbnb aims to introduce an app that does more than search and instead “knows you,” with the goal of helping guests plan their entire trip, helping hosts run their businesses, and helping Airbnb operate more efficiently at scale. A separate report similarly described the company’s vision as building an “AI-native” experience and said Chesky emphasized an app that “understands the user.”
Airbnb has also argued it has assets that general-purpose chatbots do not. Chesky said a chatbot does not have Airbnb’s “200 million verified identities” or “500 million proprietary reviews,” and he added that it can’t message hosts, which he said 90% of Airbnb’s guests do.
Financial context from Q4 results
The AI updates were discussed around Airbnb’s fourth-quarter earnings and its 2025 year-end momentum. Airbnb’s Q4 results post said revenue grew 12% in the quarter, Gross Booking Value grew 16% year-over-year (its highest-growth quarter in more than two years), and Nights and Seats Booked rose 10%.
Airbnb said Q4 revenue was $2.78 billion, and TechCrunch reported the same figure, noting it was above estimates cited in that report. Airbnb also provided Q1 2026 guidance, saying it expects revenue of $2.59 billion to $2.63 billion.
In the same Q4 update, Airbnb said it is integrating AI into its app as part of a broader strategy that includes improving the core service, expanding globally, and expanding what it offers. Separately, TechCrunch reported Airbnb shared an internal adoption metric as well: the company said 80% of its engineers now use AI tools, and it is working to get that to 100% soon.
