Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says AI cuts feature launch time by 60% as company tests AI search

Airbnb is leveraging AI to accelerate product development, with CEO Brian Chesky revealing in the company's second-quarter earnings call that AI has reduced the time from concept to launch by up to 60% across key initiatives. The company also increased the number of features shipped by nearly 80% compared to the same period last year. AI is now writing 60% of Airbnb's code, and has been applied to areas such as search, sign-up, checkout, and payments, as well as host onboarding. While consumer-facing AI features have been limited to review summaries and listing highlights, Airbnb is now testing an AI-powered search function that allows users to toggle between traditional filters and a natural language interface with visual, AI-generated results. Chesky noted that the AI search answers could be conversational and personalized, with AI-generated titles and highlights. On the customer support front, Airbnb's AI bot, launched in North America in 2025, has expanded to over 50 languages and will support voice calls later this year. Nearly 45% of customer issues starting with the AI agent are resolved without human intervention, contributing to a 16% year-over-year reduction in support cost per booking. Financially, Airbnb reported revenue of $3.6 billion for the quarter ended in June, up 17% year-over-year, with adjusted EBITDA rising 21% to $1.3 billion.