Big changes are possible coming to Airbnb next year. Speaking at WIRED's Big Interview event in San Francisco on Tuesday, company co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky told global editor-in-chief Katie Drummond that he hopes “people say this is one of the biggest reinventions of a company in the world”. recent memory. ''
While Chesky kept details scant, he did say that the company hopes to redesign the Experiences section, which he says consumers really like but which he doesn't think has caught on as much as it could. The move appears to be an extension of Chesky's belief in the value of physical experiences and physical community, which he still thinks trumps most digital experiences, even in the age of AI.
In an effort to prove that, even two years into the AI revolution, very little has fundamentally changed for most people, Chesky challenged the room to look at the apps on their phones' home screens and after to consider to what extent these have changed substantially. by generative AI. He argues that there are very few, including Airbnb, but he also sees change on the horizon, likening the AI adolescence we are in to the “1993 Internet, before search engines,” while you get what he calls “a phone book mentioned' would use. ” to find websites.
“AI is starting to change our digital world, but the most important part of our lives, the physical world, has not yet changed,” Chesky said. At Airbnb, where the product is not the company's app, but its connected homes and experiences, that is still the most valued. When AI will really change the physical world, Chesky says, “when the apps on your phone are completely different.”
“Ten years ago, everyone thought we'd all be driving self-driving cars by now,” Chesky said, noting that while there are many on his street, they haven't made their way into the rest of America. “We overestimate how much technology can change in the short term, but we probably underestimate how much it will change in the long term. It will take some time for AI to permeate the physical world, but once it does, I think it will change everything.”
Drummond also questioned Chesky about his leadership style, which is much talked about in Silicon Valley due to phrases like “founder mode” (which he noted he didn't actually create) and the well-publicized idea that he doesn't accept one. one-on-one meetings more.
He said that since the pandemic, when Airbnb lost 80 percent of its revenue within eight weeks and was forced to lay off about a third of the company, he has been much more involved in the day-to-day details of what his staff does. , in which he tells Drummond that he believes it is important to guide people through their work. Chesky says he monitors between 75 and 80 projects at a time, spending half of his 60-plus hour work week on project reviews each week. While he may no longer have recurring, scheduled one-on-ones, he says he makes many individual phone calls and participates in group meetings, where he can meet with multiple levels of staff at the same time.
