Airbnb Acquires AI Company Led by a Siri Creator

Airbnb said Tuesday that it has acquired an AI company founded by a creator of Siri. The company, called GamePlanner.AI, is a 12-person AI company that has been developing outside of the public eye since it was founded.

Airbnb did not share the acquisition price or terms of the deal. A report by CNBC valued the deal at “just under $200 million,” citing sources familiar with the deal. 

The CEO and co-founder of GamePlanner.AI is Adam Cheyer, who sold Siri to Apple in 2010 and later worked alongside Steve Jobs. He co-founded Viv Labs in 2012, which was acquired by Samsung in 2016 to provide the tech behind the company voice assistant, Bixby. He was also on the founding team of Change.org.

The other GamePlanner.AI co-founder is Siamak Hodjat, who worked with Cheyer to lead software development teams for Siri at Apple and for Viv Labs at Samsung.

Airbnb said the GamePlanner.AI team will focus on accelerating certain AI projects at Airbnb and will integrate their tools into the platform.

“What makes GamePlanner.AI so special is that they combine expertise in AI, design, and community,” said Brian Chesky, Airbnb CEO and co-founder, in a statement. “AI will rapidly alter our world more than any other technology in our lifetime, but we need to ensure that it augments humanity in a positive way. Airbnb is one of the more humanistic companies in technology, and I believe that, together with Adam and his team, we can develop some of the best interfaces and practical applications for AI.”

Chesky has said Airbnb has been rebuilding the entire app with AI at the center. Most recently, the company announced a new AI-powered photo tour tool for hosts.

“A big part of what attracted us to Airbnb was our shared commitment to using AI to enable human connection,” Cheyer said in a statement. “Like Brian, I believe that without great design and community-based intelligence, AI can only achieve a fraction of its potential. But with them, the sky’s the limit. The Airbnb team understands this better than anyone.”