Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. CEO Brian Chesky says Silicon Valley needs to build more AI products for ordinary consumers if it wants to overcome growing skepticism toward the technology. Speaking with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi on the "Power Players with Brian Sozzi" podcast, Chesky argued that the industry's focus on enterprise customers has left consumers without enough tangible AI products that improve their daily lives.
"I think part of it's a narrative issue that we're not talking about AI correctly," Chesky said. He added that Silicon Valley also needs products that regular people can use and that provide tangible benefits, such as affordable access to services that would otherwise be out of reach. A single bad hire can set a startup back years.
Here are the 5 hires founders most often misjudge — and why Still Learning the Market? These 50 Must-Know Terms Can Help You Catch Up Fast Chesky said founders appear more reluctant to build consumer-facing products than when he started Airbnb 18 years ago. He pointed to Y Combinator, where he serves on the board, saying 159 of the latest 175 companies were focused on enterprise rather than consumers.
"It's in Silicon Valley's interest for us to develop consumer applications that improve people's lives," Chesky said. Chesky's push for more consumer-focused AI comes as Airbnb itself has been seeing measurable benefits from the technology. In an interview with CNBC, Chesky said Airbnb's AI implementation costs "pale in comparison" to the revenue and productivity gains the company is seeing.
He also said 45% of guest interactions handled with AI were resolved without human assistance. A June Pew Research Center report found that 40% of U.S. adults believed AI's impact on society over the next 20 years would be negative, compared with 16% who expected a positive impact. Consumer adoption is growing, but trust remains an issue.
Only 18% of U.S. adults said they had used tools such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini for financial guidance over the past year, compared with 32% who used professional financial advisers and 73% who relied on internet research. Trending: Avoid the #1 Investing Mistake: How Your 'Safe' Holdings Could Be Costing You Big Time The gap is particularly visible among older Americans. About 26% of Gen Z and 25% of millennials had used AI for financial guidance, compared with 7% of baby boomers.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
