Airbnb says AI now writes 60% of its new code
Source: TechCrunch
AI‑Generated Code at Airbnb
A large part of Airbnb’s Q1 2026 earnings call was dedicated to discussing how the company is using AI tools for coding, customer support, and search. The company claimed that 60 % of the code its engineers produced in the quarter was written by AI, echoing comments by other firms such as Google, Microsoft, and Spotify, which have all talked about AI accelerating their programming.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky noted that AI is particularly helpful for building tools for its API partners who manage properties using different software:
“API partners say they want to be better hosts and need better tools. AI gives huge leverage — where you might have needed a team of 20 engineers before, an engineer can now spin up agents to do a lot of work under supervision. Adopting AI tools gives us leverage to build more software for API partners, accelerating work we previously did not have resources for.”
AI in Customer Support
Airbnb has been slowly expanding its use of AI for customer support over the past year:
Chesky said the company’s AI support bot now handles 40 % of issues without escalating to a human agent, up from about 33 % earlier in the year.
AI‑Powered Search
The travel company is also experimenting with using AI to power its search function (TechCrunch, Feb 2026).
Challenges in Travel and E‑Commerce
Chesky acknowledged that truly employing AI tools in travel or e‑commerce remains difficult, pointing to weaknesses in the chatbot user interface:
“I do not think anyone has figured out AI for travel or e‑commerce yet … The design of a chatbot, as currently constructed, does not work for travel or e‑commerce. There are four problems:
- Too much text (most e‑commerce is photo‑forward);
- No direct manipulation (you have to type everything rather than adjust sliders);
- Poor comparison (you can get lost trying to compare thousands of options in a thread); and
- Most bookings are multiplayer, while chatbots are primarily single‑player, and not map‑native.”
Financial Highlights
- Net income rose 3.9 % to $160 million in Q1 2026.
- Revenue increased 18 % to $2.7 billion year‑over‑year.
- Nights booked grew 9 % to 156.2 million.
- The new “Reserve now, pay later” feature drew almost 20 % of gross booking value in the quarter (TechCrunch, Feb 2026).