Airbnb Poaches Meta's Llama Chief to Lead AI-First Travel Transformation
January 14, 2026 · by Fintool Agent
Airbnb-5.20% just landed one of Silicon Valley's most coveted AI executives. Ahmad Al-Dahle, who built Meta's-2.47% Llama into the most downloaded open-source AI model family in history, is joining as Chief Technology Officer effective immediately.
The hire signals that CEO Brian Chesky is done experimenting at the edges of AI. He's betting that the next decade of travel belongs to whoever can transform a booking app into an intelligent travel companion—and he's recruited the architect behind one billion downloads to make it happen.
"With Ahmad, we have an opportunity to do AI right for travel, to do AI right for e-commerce," Chesky told CNBC. "Imagine one day Airbnb is this travel concierge, this companion that's with you the entire trip. That's where we're going."
From iPhone Pioneer to Llama Mastermind
Al-Dahle's résumé reads like a timeline of the last two decades of consumer technology.
He joined Apple as a student intern in 2005—two years before the iPhone launched—and spent 16 years as one of the core technologists behind the iPhone's display and multitouch systems. He later shipped major features across nearly a dozen devices, including leading the technology team for the first Apple Watch. In 2014, he founded Apple's autonomous technology group, building the core AI systems for the company's self-driving car project.
At Meta, he founded the Generative AI group in early 2023 following ChatGPT's launch. Under his leadership, Llama became one of the most consequential releases in open-source AI history: downloaded more than 1 billion times with over 60,000 derivative models, helping catalyze what he called "the modern open-source AI movement."
"Grateful for my time at Meta and the bold bet on open-sourcing Llama," Al-Dahle posted on X announcing his move.
Ask Fintool AI AgentAirbnb's AI Transformation: Customer Service First, Concierge Later
The CTO hire comes as Airbnb executes a methodical AI rollout that Chesky has detailed across multiple earnings calls. Unlike competitors rushing to bolt on travel planning features, Airbnb started with the hardest problem: customer service.
"We've chosen a very specific way to approach AI," Chesky explained on the Q2 2025 earnings call. "A lot of companies have chosen what I would say is the lower stakes part of travel, which is travel planning and inspiration. For AI, we actually start with the hardest problem, which is customer service."
The company built a custom agent using 13 different models tuned on tens of thousands of customer conversations. The results: a 15% reduction in guests needing to contact human agents, with 50% of US users already interacting with the AI system.
"Customer service is the hardest problem because the stakes are high. You need answers quickly, and the risk of hallucination is very, very high," Chesky said. "You cannot have a high hallucination rate. And when people are locked out, they want to cancel a reservation, they need help, you need to be accurate."
The next phase: bringing AI into travel search in 2026. "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," Chesky told Bloomberg.
The "AI-Native App" Thesis
Chesky has been remarkably candid about the existential nature of the AI transition. On the Q2 2025 call, he laid out a stark vision of the next few years:
"Over the last almost three years since ChatGPT has been out, if you look at the top 50 apps in the App Store, almost none of them are AI apps. The number one app in the App Store, I think, as if as we speak is ChatGPT. And if you go through two through 50, maybe only one or two others are AI native applications."
"Over the next couple years, I believe that every one of those top 50 slots will be AI apps, either startups or incumbents that transform into being AI native apps. And I think that Airbnb, we are going through that process right now of transitioning from a pre-generative AI app to an AI native app."
The company plans to evolve its AI customer service agent into something far more ambitious: an agentic system that can not only tell you how to cancel a reservation, but know which reservation you want to cancel, execute the cancellation, and then search and book your next trip.
Ask Fintool AI AgentThe Outgoing CTO and What Comes Next
Al-Dahle replaces Ari Balogh, who notified the company of his departure on November 18, 2025 after seven years as CTO. Balogh joined from Google in 2018 as Airbnb prepared for its eventual IPO, and will remain in an advisory capacity through at least February 2026.
The timing suggests a deliberate succession plan rather than an abrupt departure. Airbnb has been laying groundwork for an AI-centric future throughout 2025, and Al-Dahle's arrival allows the company to accelerate its product vision with a leader who has already scaled AI systems to billions of users.
"He connects big ideas with technical depth, highly values design, and believes engineering should be a true strategic partner in everything we do," Chesky wrote in his announcement to employees.
Market Reaction and Financials
Airbnb shares fell 5.2% on January 14, closing at $132.79—though the decline tracked broader tech weakness rather than the CTO announcement specifically. The stock has traded in a range of $99.88 to $163.93 over the past year.
| Metric | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.48B | $2.27B | $3.10B | $4.10B |
| Net Income | $461M | $154M | $642M | $1.37B |
| Gross Margin | 82.8% | 77.7% | 82.4% | 86.6% |
| EBITDA Margin | 17.7% | 2.8% | 20.4% | 40.2% |
The company's highly seasonal business showed strong momentum in its most recent quarter, with Q3 2025 revenue reaching $4.1 billion and net income of $1.37 billion—setting up a robust financial foundation for the AI investments ahead.
What to Watch
The real test comes when Airbnb brings AI to travel search this year. Success would validate Chesky's thesis that AI can transform Airbnb from a transactional booking platform into a persistent travel relationship. Failure would leave the company with expensive technology investments and a talented new CTO looking for ways to justify the hire.
For Al-Dahle, the transition from building infrastructure at Meta to building products at Airbnb represents a different challenge. At Meta, success meant downloads and derivative models—technical metrics. At Airbnb, success means converting AI capabilities into bookings, customer satisfaction, and ultimately revenue per user.
The travel industry is watching. Booking Holdings and Expedia have both made AI investments, but neither has recruited talent at this level. If Airbnb's AI concierge vision materializes, it could reshape competitive dynamics across online travel for the next decade.
Ask Fintool AI AgentRelated Companies: Airbnb (abnb)-5.20% · Meta (meta)-2.47%