Airbnb's AI Takes Over a Third of Customer Support, Promising Cost Reduction and Improved Service
— TechCrunch
Key Takeaway
Airbnb has implemented an AI system that now manages a third of its customer support in North America, with plans for global rollout. CEO Brian Chesky believes this will significantly reduce costs and improve service quality.
Airbnb says its custom-built AI agent is now handling roughly a third of its customer support issues in North America, and it’s preparing to roll out the feature globally. If successful, the company believes that in a year’s time, more than 30% of its total customer support tickets will be handled by AI voice and chat in all the languages where it also employs a human customer service agent. “We think this is going to be massive because not only does this reduce the cost base of Airbnb customer service, but the quality of service is going to be a huge step change,” CEO Brian Chesky said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call this week. This seems to suggest he believes the AI would do a better job than its human counterparts in resolving some issues.
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