Airbnb Is Testing a ‘What Box’ for Natural Language Search

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky detailed his vision for an AI assistant that integrates search, customer service and messaging, all of which would spit out results using natural language.

The company is currently testing adding a "What box" to the traditional search box atop the homepage as phase one, Chesky told financial analysts during Airbnb's third quarter earnings call Thursday.

In addition to the "Where" section of the search box for travelers to enter destinations, the "Check In" and "Check Out" dates boxes, and the "Who" area to add the number of guests, "we're testing a 'What' box with a text natural language input similar to ChatGPT or Gemini," Chesky said.

He said the answers won't be structured data, but will be "n