Brian Chesky | Bit.Fan

Airbnb rolls out AI search in the U.S., betting on social trip planning and post-arrival services

Airbnb said on Sept. 30 that it has formally added AI search to its app, with the initial rollout starting in the United States. Rather than launching a chatbot, the company centered the update on search, shared travel plans among friends, and services guests may need after arrival. The move came after Airbnb shares fell 17.8% between Sept. 4 and Sept. 23, during a period when some investors were concerned that booking discovery could shift away from travel apps and into AI agents such as Meta’s Muse, which went live on Sept. 8 and allows users to search, compare prices, and place orders inside a conversation. Airbnb’s new search bar lets users look for homes, experiences, and services using natural language or voice. Search results now include AI-generated listing highlights, and properties saved to wishlists can be compared side by side. The company also introduced Connect and Travel Map, features that let users share itineraries with friends and view trips on an interactive map. In addition, Airbnb said it is expanding post-booking services, including food delivery in some European cities, laundry pickup and drop-off through Rinse in some U.S. cities, and baby gear rentals through BabyQuip in more than 60 U.S. cities starting in November with a 10% discount for guests.

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Airbnb

4 months agoNews Editor

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky’s X Account Hijacked to Post AI-Generated RWA Threads Seen 700,000 Times

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky’s X account was hacked this week and used to publish a series of AI-generated posts about real-world asset tokenization, with the threads drawing more than 700,000 views before they were removed. According to CoinDesk, Chesky later regained control of the account and joked that the attacker had brought him a wave of new crypto followers, while warning those followers that he would likely be “a very boring” person to follow. The posts stood out because they did not include a token contract, wallet address, or investment link, unlike the more familiar pattern of hacked crypto-adjacent accounts being used for direct scams. ABMedia described the material as “AI slop,” meaning text that appears polished on the surface but lacks concrete factual substance. Airbnb has not issued a formal statement, and X has not explained how the account was compromised or whether other prominent accounts were hit at the same time. The incident adds to a broader pattern of social-engineering attacks that use AI-written crypto narratives rather than overt scam links.

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Airbnb

4 months agoNews Editor

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky’s X account hacked, used to post AI-written bullish RWA message

Fortune reported that Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky’s X account was compromised on Monday and briefly used to publish a bullish post about “RWA tokenization.” The post was later deleted. Pangram, an AI detection tool, found the message was 100% AI-generated, while users said its lack of commas and other stylistic cues made it look machine-written. Chesky has previously spoken positively about AI, but the incident points to a separate problem: low-quality AI-generated content is becoming a growing issue for companies and creators when hacked or impersonated accounts are used to spread it. After receiving a report, X’s security team moved to secure the account. Chesky has since regained access.

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