Skift Take
Generative AI is still in the early stages, but major travel companies are investing in tools that many of them say will be an important part of the future.
Travel Tech Briefing
Editor’s Note: Exclusive reporting on technology’s impact on the travel industry, delivered every Thursday. The briefing will guide executives as they decide if their companies should “build, buy, or partner” to stay ahead.
For developers, generative artificial intelligence will "allow our devs to kind of be super devs." For consumers, it "can level the playing field from a service perspective."
Those comments came from the CEOs of Uber and Airbnb, respectively, last month when discussing the changes that the tech could bring to their companies.
Since ChatGPT was released last November, many travel company CEOs have shared how they are implementing generative AI. Some have already released experimental tools to the public, while others have shared only vague plans.
Many of those companies are speaking about those plans at events or in public shareholder meetings. Here, in alphabetical order by company, are some of the most noteworthy comments from executives in May.
AirbnbBrian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, shared details in early May with Skift CEO Rafat Ali about how the short-term rental company could change with AI. Chesky shared some additional comments with shareholders a few days later.
“I think that going forward, Airbnb is going to be pretty different. Instead of asking you questions like where are you going and when are you going, I want us to build a robust profile about you, learn more about you and ask you two bigger and more fundamental questions: Who are you? And what do you want?”
“And ultimately, what I think Airbnb is building is not just a service or a product. But what we are in the largest sense is a