Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is starting a new artificial intelligence lab focused on user interaction and design

Chesky plans to create an AI venture to develop artificial intelligence models, with a potential focus on user interaction and design. He is in the early stages of funding the lab, and will remain CEO of Airbnb while not serving as chief executive of the new lab.

Chesky has argued that AI applications for travel and e-commerce require a rich user interface rather than text-based chatbots. Unlike Expedia Group Inc. and Booking Holdings Inc., Airbnb has not partnered with OpenAI to create a plug-in within ChatGPT, as Chesky has said the AI startup's tools aren't robust enough.

Airbnb is being transformed into a "do-it-all" travel app with new add-on services that Chesky hopes could eventually bring in $1 billion or more in revenue a year. Airbnb employees have embraced AI coding tools to help accelerate expansion, with new business pilots spun up in weeks rather than years.