Airbnb has concluded its first acquisition deal as a public company.
The mentioned firm has acquired a startup that operates in the artificial intelligence industry. The media, citing insiders who are aware of the details of this transaction, report that the value of the business agreement is slightly less than $200 million.
The Gameplanner.AI startup, which works in the so-called hidden mode, will enter the Airbnb ownership structure. This company specializing in the development of artificial intelligence technologies was founded in 2020. The mentioned hidden mode of operation is used by startups for various reasons, the most common of which is the desire to protect their intellectual property. Also, this format of activity is often chosen by those firms that want to avoid the influence of distractions on their work.
Gameplanner.AI will accelerate the process of implementing some projects of its new owner that are related to artificial intelligence. The co-founder of the startup is Adam Cheyer, who worked on the creation of Siri. After this personal digital assistant was acquired by Apple, he worked together with Steve Jobs. Sometime later, Alam Cheyer co-founded Viv Labs, which is a kind of base for Samsung’s voice assistant.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says that generative artificial intelligence will radically change the platform of this company. He stated his desire to use advanced technology as a tourist concierge who gets to know users and improves their travel experience.
This transaction is the first acquisition of Airbnb since 2019. According to experts, these actions of the company may cause some interest on Wall Street. Airbnb is GAAP profitable. As of the end of September, the company had $11 billion in cash and liquid assets.
Airbnb has an active interest in artificial intelligence. The company has launched several machine intelligence-based tools on its virtual platform. The launch of the next innovations related to the use of advanced technology became known last week. The company offered consumers a tool based on artificial intelligence, with which you can sort photos of the interior of houses by rooms.
In early November, Brian Chesky stated that machine intelligence has the potential to improve the quality of travel and transform the tourism industry as a whole. According to him, virtual platforms operating in the mentioned sphere will become the main beneficiaries of the introduction of artificial intelligence due to their original digital nature. Brian Chesky is also convinced that machine intelligence can improve the quality of customer service.
Interest in AI is currently something like a global trend. Companies are interested in access to advanced technology that qualitatively transforms the methodology of work and positively affects the results of this process. For example, Google is currently studying the prospects for additional investment in a startup Character.AI, which provides users with the ability to create a chatbot that can communicate with consumers in the form of a kind of digital analog of famous persons.
