OpenAI chief Sam Altman describes Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky as someone who loves to express his individuality and influence through his work as a founder, a quality he thinks comes through during Airbnb’s launches.
What Happened: Altman lit up X after Chesky posted a teaser for Airbnb's sweeping overhaul, writing, "Brian is the most auteur founder of this generation, and it really shines through in how he does launches!" and later adding, "the new app design is so great."
Altman's praise landed hours after Chesky unveiled Airbnb's radical shift in the direction of being an “everything app.” "Now, you can Airbnb more than an Airbnb," Chesky told a Tuesday crowd, promising to turn every trip or hometown weekend into a curated itinerary.
Chesky introduced the three pillars for the platform: Airbnb Services, a re-engineered Airbnb Experiences, and an all-new app tying them together. The headline addition, Airbnb Services, lets users in 260 cities book in-home chefs, massages, personal trainers and even makeup artists, matching perks long monopolized by hotels.
The rebooted Experiences hub ditches bus-tour clichés for five lanes—history & culture, food & drink, nature & outdoors, art & design, and fitness & wellness — ranging from restoring Notre Dame with its architects to ramen lessons from Michelin-star chefs.
Airbnb is also rolling out Originals, limited-slot events hosted by names like Megan Thee Stallion and NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes.
A ground-up app redesign was also launched at the event, which features countdown widgets, interactive icons and AI-driven suggestions into a single itinerary view that mashes lodging, services and experiences.
Why It Matters: Wall Street analysts told Benzinga the summer release is meant to open new revenue lanes as Airbnb's core bookings mature, even as regulatory and hotel competition pressures persist.
Altman, in a blog post earlier this year, publicly stated that Chesky and SV Angel founder Ron Conway did "incredible and gigantic amounts of work" helping him during his brief ouster from OpenAI in November 2023. Altman added that the pair "stopped me from making several mistakes," and suggested OpenAI might not still be standing without their support.
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