Airbnb Picks Meta AI Vet Ahmad Al-Dahle as New Tech Chief

Airbnb has named a former Meta AI executive to lead its tech operations.

Ahmad Al-Dahle, who previously oversaw Meta’s generative artificial intelligence (AI) efforts, has been hired as chief technology officer of the short-term rental platform the company announced Wednesday (Jan. 14).

“Ahmad is joining Airbnb at a pivotal moment,” CEO Brian Chesky wrote in a company-wide email and shared to the company’s blog. “In a world becoming more artificial, people are craving what’s real: real connection with real people in the real world. No company is better positioned to meet this need than Airbnb. We have a rare opportunity, and responsibility, to shape how people travel, live, and interact with AI in a way that strengthens human connection and draws people into the physical world, not away from it.”

Al-Dahle joined Meta in 2020 to head mapping and applied AI within the company’s Reality Labs division. After ChatGPT’s debut, he founded the company’s generative AI group and led the launch of Meta’s Llama AI models, while also leading teams responsible for developing AI features for Meta’s main social media platforms.

Speaking to Bloomberg News Wednesday, Chesky discussed the company’s plans to embed AI into its search function.

“What that means is moving away from an anonymous customer just searching, and making sure everyone’s search, everyone’s conversation is unique to them and that we take into account all prior conversations we ever had with you, all information we have.” he said.

“It’s not going to look like old search, it’s not going to look like a chatbot. It’s going to have to marry the best of both worlds.”

During a speech last year, Airbnb Chief Business Officer Dave Stephenson described the company’s plan to embed AI throughout its operations to transform guest and homeowner experiences, creating a “concierge in your pocket.”

AI is an “incredibly high priority,” Dave Stephenson said at the Human[x] conference in Las Vegas, adding that the technology “pervades everything we do.”

More recently, the company began using machine learning-powered “anti-party technology” to identify bookings that could be a greater risk for a disruptive party.

When the technology finds a potentially risky booking for an entire home listing by examining “hundreds of signals,” it either blocks the would-be booking or redirects it to other types of listings, such as private rooms or hotel rooms, Airbnb said last month.