Airbnb Cuts Development Time for New Features by up to 60 Percent Thanks to AI

How Artificial Intelligence is Changing Airbnb: Faster Development and More Efficient Support

Artificial intelligence may not be very visible at first glance when using Airbnb. Inside the company, however, it is beginning to significantly change the way the firm develops new products. Airbnb claims that for some projects, it has been able to reduce the time from the first idea to launch by up to 60 percent.

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky stated during the release of second-quarter results that the company can now create, test, and modify new features substantially faster than just a year ago. In the first six months of this year, Airbnb introduced nearly 80 percent more new features and improvements than in the same period of 2025.

AI-based tools play a significant role in this. Already during the first-quarter results, the company stated that AI generated approximately 60 percent of the new code produced by its developers. According to Chesky, smaller teams can thus handle work that would previously have required significantly more programmers.

Airbnb Prepares New AI Search

Although Airbnb uses AI intensively during development itself, it is proceeding more cautiously toward customers. The company does not want to simply replace classic search with a standard chatbot. Chesky previously pointed out that a purely text-based interface is not ideal for travel because users also need photos, maps, and the ability to easily compare a large number of offers.

Airbnb will therefore begin testing its own AI search, which users will be able to toggle between and the current filter system. The user will be able to describe in natural language what kind of accommodation they are looking for, with the result intended not to be a long text response similar to ChatGPT, but a visually processed selection of specific offers.

Artificial intelligence can also create personalized summaries of individual listings in real time. Airbnb is already using AI to process information from accommodation descriptions and user reviews, highlighting, for example, location, amenities, or the property's suitability for families. Later this year, the company also plans to add automatic comparison of individual accommodations.

AI is Already Saving Airbnb Money

AI is making an even more significant impact in customer support. The Airbnb assistant is available in more than 50 languages, and nearly 45 percent of issues that customers begin resolving with it are completed without the intervention of a human worker. Later this year, Airbnb plans to introduce similar technology to phone support as well.

The impact is also visible in costs. Expenses related to customer support per booking fell by approximately 16 percent year-on-year in the second quarter. Airbnb expects that as the AI assistant's capabilities expand, costs could fall further.

Technological changes are coming at a time of strong growth for the company. Airbnb's second-quarter revenue rose 17 percent year-on-year to $3.6 billion, and adjusted EBITDA increased 21 percent to $1.3 billion. The company also raised its full-year revenue growth outlook to at least the mid-teens.

Investors reacted positively to the results. Airbnb shares rose approximately 14 percent after their release, reaching their highest level in more than four years. Chesky identified AI as one of the main changes intended to allow Airbnb faster product development and more efficient operations.