Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky’s advice to students: Study things you are interested in, but develop skills that …

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky recently advised young engineers to invest in skills that technology can not replace. In a recent interview with ABC News, Chesky said: “People should study things they're interested in, and they should develop skills they'll always need”.

He further said that despite technological advancements, one will always need skills to “think critically and communicate very clearly.”"You're always going to need to learn how to solve problems… to develop leadership skills… to think critically and communicate very clearly," he said.Chesky also advised young students not to fear advancing technology but to focus on developing skills that machines cannot replicate.

Airbnb CEO’s warning on replacing entry-level jobs with AI

During the interview, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky also warned companies against replacing entry-level workers with AI. “AI models can do a lot of lower level, more entry-level position jobs,” he said, “they have trouble with a lot of novel thoughts" and "need to be told what to do every step of the way.”“If no young people can get jobs then you have no one in the future to do the highly strategic, leadership positions,” he warned.

Recently, Chesky stated that the company typically does not use OpenAI's latest models extensively in production for its AI tools. He noted that there are often faster, cheaper alternatives available. Recently, the travel app maker announced that it has updated its in-app artificial intelligence customer service agent, which was rolled out to all US users in English in May. The update allows customers to take more actions without needing a live representative.

In an interview, Chesky revealed that the agent is built on 13 different AI models, sourced from providers including OpenAI, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Qwen model, Alphabet Inc.’s Google, and other open-source providers.