Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky wants to bring ChatGPT into the travel giant's platform, but there's a problem - the AI just isn't ready for prime time. Speaking to CNBC Wednesday, Chesky revealed that OpenAI's software development kit "wasn't quite robust enough" for what Airbnb wants to build, offering a rare glimpse into the technical hurdles facing AI integration at major consumer platforms.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky just threw cold water on one of the tech world's hottest partnerships. The travel platform chief told CNBC's Squawk Box Wednesday that he wants to integrate OpenAI's ChatGPT into Airbnb's platform, but the AI simply isn't ready for the job.
"The [software development kit] wasn't quite robust enough for the things we want to do," Chesky admitted during the interview. It's a surprising confession from a CEO who counts OpenAI's Sam Altman as a close friend and has been vocal about AI's transformative potential.
The timing couldn't be more telling. Just Tuesday, Airbnb launched a series of new social features, including direct messaging and an enhanced chatbot that can cancel and change reservations for North American users. But instead of ChatGPT powering these features, Airbnb built its system using 13 different chatbots and is "depending heavily" on Alibaba's Qwen model, according to Chesky's Bloomberg interview this week.
The revelation exposes a critical gap between AI hype and enterprise reality. While ChatGPT dazzles consumers with clever responses, building it into mission-critical travel infrastructure requires different technical standards. Airbnb handles millions of bookings worth billions in transactions - a single AI hallucination or system failure could cost the company dearly.
Chesky's comments also highlight the fierce competition brewing in enterprise AI. While everyone talks about the OpenAI juggernaut, Chinese tech giant Alibaba's Qwen model is quietly powering real-world applications at scale. The model's enterprise-grade stability appears to have won over Airbnb's engineering team, even as Chesky maintains his friendship with Altman.
But the Airbnb CEO isn't writing off the AI revolution. "It's only the beginning," he told CNBC, predicting the technology will fuel "a consumer app craze over the next few years." His vision? A collaborative ecosystem where AI companies focus on their strengths rather than trying to dominate every vertical.
