Airbnb’s Brian Chesky Is Building a Secretive AI Lab on the Side

Brian Chesky, the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, is quietly backing a new artificial intelligence lab, according to Bloomberg. The venture is currently in early funding stages and will concentrate on user interaction and design — two areas Chesky has long believed the existing AI industry has neglected. Chesky will remain in his role at Airbnb and will not run the new lab on a day-to-day basis.

A Long-Held Frustration With AI Chatbots

The move is a natural extension of a position Chesky has maintained for years. Unlike major travel competitors such as Expedia and Booking Holdings, Airbnb has never entered into a partnership with OpenAI. Chesky, who trained as a designer, has consistently argued that travel demands a rich, visual experience that text-based chatbots simply cannot deliver. That philosophy has shaped how Airbnb approaches technology — AI now generates 60% of the company’s code, yet the customer-facing experience has deliberately avoided chatbot-style interfaces.

Founder Mode in Action

The new lab reflects what venture capitalist Paul Graham described as “founder mode” — a leadership philosophy he coined in 2024, partly inspired by Chesky’s own management style. The core idea is straightforward: if the tools your industry needs do not yet exist, build them yourself. Chesky is already expanding Airbnb well beyond its original model, repositioning it as an Amazon-style travel platform with hotels, car rentals, and grocery delivery. The AI lab appears to be the next logical step — creating the underlying technology to power that broader vision on his own terms.