Airbnb reports faster feature development and tests AI-powered search toggle

Airbnb’s co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky said the company has reduced the time from conceptualization to shipping features by 60% due to AI, and increased the number of features and improvements shipped this year by nearly 80% compared to the same six-month period last year. He noted AI’s impact across areas including search, sign-up, checkout, and payments.

The company is testing a new AI-powered search experience that users can access via a toggle, allowing them to switch between the existing search interface and a natural-language search mode. In the AI search mode, results are presented in a visual format with AI-generated titles and conversational phrasing, and product description pages display AI-generated highlights personalized to the user.

Airbnb also reported progress in customer support automation. Its AI agent, launched in North America in 2025, now operates in more than 50 languages and is expected to support voice calls later this year. Nearly 45% of customer issues handled by the AI agent are completed without human intervention, contributing to a 16% year-over-year reduction in support cost per booking.

Airbnb disclosed these updates during its second-quarter earnings call for the quarter ended June, reporting revenue of $3.6 billion, up 17% year-over-year, and adjusted EBITDA of $1.3 billion, up 21% year-over-year.