AI could take over up to half of all entry-level, white-collar jobs within the next five years, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicted earlier this year. But that just means more jobs will open up in other areas, says Airbnb’s CEO, namely in service and hospitality.
At the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on Tuesday, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said that hospitality and service jobs will likely be safe from AI for the next five to 10 years — and that people will come to Airbnb to find that work.
“Services and hospitality are not going to be disrupted for quite a long time through AI,” Chesky said at the event. “I do think that a lot of what we’re doing with hosting, certainly over a 5- to 10-year period, [will] still be people-driven.”
Chesky said that the reason hospitality and service jobs will be safe from AI displacement is that people still want a human touch for some experiences.
Related: Airbnb’s CEO Says He Personally Manages 40 to 50 Employees as Direct Reports: ‘A Lot of Work’
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. Photo by Gerald Matzka/Getty Images for Airbnb
“When people go to Bordeaux and they drink a bottle of wine, I don’t think they want that to be an AI-driven experience,” Chesky said. He added that if someone vacationed at Lake Como in Italy, they wouldn’t want “a robot answering the door for them.”
In addition to Anthropic’s Amodei, other AI experts have warned that widespread joblessness could result from the technology. Earlier this month, University of Louisville Computer Science Professor Roman Yampolskiy predicted that AI would take over 99% of all jobs, from computer work to physical labor. The only roles left will be those that humans prefer other humans to do for them, he said.
“I hope that if AI displaces a lot of jobs, I hope [Airbnb] could be a place for at least some of those jobs to expand to,” Chesky said. “And I think a lot of people are going to come to us.”
Still, that doesn’t mean Airbnb isn’t using AI to improve its offerings.
Chesky stated in an earnings call in August that the company is using AI to assist with customer service and handling tasks, such as canceling reservations.
Related: Airbnb Just Made a Big Change to Its Payment Policy. Here’s What to Know.
Airbnb remains a popular option for vacation rentals. According to its second-quarter earnings report last month, revenue was $3.1 billion, a 13% increase from the previous year. According to the company, Airbnb had more than five million hosts and two billion guest check-ins from the time the platform launched in 2007.
In May, Airbnb announced that it was moving beyond rentals and incorporating new services, like photography packages and private chefs, into its platform in a quest to be the “everything app.”
AI could take over up to half of all entry-level, white-collar jobs within the next five years, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicted earlier this year. But that just means more jobs will open up in other areas, says Airbnb’s CEO, namely in service and hospitality.
At the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on Tuesday, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said that hospitality and service jobs will likely be safe from AI for the next five to 10 years — and that people will come to Airbnb to find that work.
“Services and hospitality are not going to be disrupted for quite a long time through AI,” Chesky said at the event. “I do think that a lot of what we’re doing with hosting, certainly over a 5- to 10-year period, [will] still be people-driven.”
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