Airbnb: 60% of programming code written by AI

Published: 2026-05-18 01:01:23 ET ABNB

Published on 05/18/2026 at 01:01 am EDT

Airbnb can bring features and products to market more quickly, because sixty per cent of the programming work is now done by machines. At the Customer Service department, the cost per booking fell by ten per cent, also thanks to AI.

The commentary on last week’s quarterly figures shows that large-scale automation has a direct impact on the results and on how the booking company operates.

CEO Brian Chesky explains: “When guests contact us via our AI assistant, more than forty per cent of issues are resolved without a human agent having to step in. This is an increase from about a third in the fourth quarter, with a significantly faster resolution time.”

Developments like this are also affecting how the organisation is structured. The boss says: “We’re going back to what I call founder mode. It really comes down to the idea that leaders need to be hands-on. I don’t think there’s much room left for pure people managers. Everyone will have to be hands-on.” Data scientists no longer have a monopoly on data insights. These are accessible to everyone via general self-service dashboards.

Photo: Clay Banks / Unsplash