Airbnb's Brian Chesky: AI needs its own operating system

Airbnb this week launched a new AI-powered search feature as part of its fall update. Co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky explained in an interview that chatbots are poorly suited to browsing and shopping experiences, since they offer only a few options at a time and require multiple turns to reach a result. Still, he doesn't consider the current search version the final form — the interface will keep evolving, possibly toward something between a chatbot and the product Airbnb just shipped.

Chesky noted that travel research shows people often derive more pleasure from planning a trip than from the trip itself, so preserving the browsing and inspiration experience matters. Another issue with chatbots, he said, is that they're built for a single user, while Airbnb is frequently used by groups. Over the next few months, the company plans to explore "multiplayer" interfaces that let several people plan a trip together at once.

Agents and interoperability

Asked about consumer AI agents that act on a person's behalf, Chesky admitted Airbnb's experience with such tools hasn't gone well so far — using the platform through these agents doesn't work smoothly. In his view, the core problem is that the industry lacks a genuine AI operating system; apps today are built for existing systems rather than infrastructure designed for AI. Ideally, AI would operate at the kernel level, where all components and agents could interact with one another.

Chesky also predicted that the Airbnb app could eventually become a collection of agents across different functions, communicating with each other via the MCP standard. He stressed that a true shift from apps to agents would likely require companies like Apple or Google, which control the dominant platforms.

Toward the end of the interview, Chesky touched on voice technology, saying it will play a growing role in search and customer service — Airbnb plans to roll out voice agents this fall. On a personal note, he said AI has helped him access information faster, reducing the number of meetings he needs to attend.