Building a global community in the age of AI

Executive overview

We are living through an unprecedented crisis of loneliness and disconnection, despite—or because of—innovations that promised to connect us. Digital platforms have replaced social connection with performance and followers, leaving people isolated and increasingly lonely. Airbnb's bet is to counter this trend by building real human connection in the physical world, especially through travel and lived experiences. The opposite of artificial is real; the opposite of a screen is the world.

The loneliness paradox

When the internet launched, people imagined it would make the world feel smaller. Instead, social networking transformed into social media—where friends became followers and connections became performance. People now spend hours staring at screens, and the mental health crisis, rising birth rates, and declining community structures are symptoms of this deeper isolation.

• We are living through one of the loneliest periods in human history
• Teenage girls are the loneliest demographic in America
• Men without college education are the second loneliest cohort
• Physical communities have diminished; people no longer experience shared belonging
• Digital apps promise connection but deliver isolation instead

Why Airbnb is betting on the physical world

Airbnb's original mission was human connection: when Brian Chesky rented air mattresses in his apartment, guests became friends. The name evolved from "air bed and breakfast" to Airbnb as the platform grew from bedrooms to full homes. Now experiences and services are expanding the company's scope beyond lodging.

The premise: when you travel, you become open-minded. You're genuinely interested in the place, the people, and the culture. Real connection happens when you're in someone else's home, on their terms.

• 40% of Airbnb Experiences bookings come from people in their own city
• The platform could become a new form of entertainment alongside restaurants and streaming
• Travel brings out the best in people; prejudice drops when you're in unfamiliar territory
• Ancient hospitality traditions—the guest as sacred—still resonate today
• 3 billion bookings globally show the hunger for human-scale travel

AI as opportunity and risk

AI has not yet fundamentally changed daily life three years after ChatGPT launched. Most apps remain unchanged; only the top consumer apps (ChatGPT, Gemini) use AI meaningfully. But video generation tools like Sora will soon make it impossible to trust what you see on a screen.

The enterprise market is crowded with AI picks-and-shovels startups, but consumer AI applications are sparse. This is the gold-rush moment: we have the technology, now we must build meaningful applications with it.

• Artificial content and screens are becoming indistinguishable from reality
• The next three years will create a highly immersive digital world and an unchanged physical world
• Robotics will replace many jobs; hosting and human-connection services cannot be automated
• People don't want AI-generated experiences; they want real human connection
• Instagram and social platforms will likely prioritize AI-generated content over influencers

Design as counterweight to pure engineering

Silicon Valley is dominated by technical, left-brain thinking. Yet the greatest innovators—Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Leonardo da Vinci—were artist-designers first. Design is not aesthetics; it's deep understanding and distillation to essence.

Most Fortune 500 CEOs are not designers. The boardrooms lack creative and humanities input. Yet design will become more critical in the AI age because software automation will shift engineering toward design-level thinking.

• There are virtually no designer-CEOs in the Fortune 500; it's a rare skillset in leadership
• Design is "the fundamental soul of a man-made creation"—how it works, not just how it looks
• AI enables more automation of coding; engineers will increasingly become designers
• Companies need both left-brain and right-brain thinking to avoid a heartless, creativity-drained world
• The most impressive people in history bridged art and science

Navigating political volatility without losing principles

Silicon Valley is becoming more politically partisan. Business leaders face pressure to take public stances on every issue. Yet constant swinging between trends (DEI rollback, political polarization, regulatory shifts) is exhausting and misguided.

The key distinction: business decisions try to win short-term outcomes; principal decisions pursue what's right regardless of the result. Stick to principles, and you rarely go out of business. People want to work for companies led with values, not trend-chasing.

• Predict what will still be true in 20 years; those are your principles
• Everything else is trend-following or fitting in
• Travel unites people across political divides; millions of ideological opponents have stayed in each other's homes
• Airbnb's unifying mission competes with politics' inherent divisiveness
• Be thoughtful about which issues to engage; don't have opinions on topics you don't deeply understand
• Focus on core values rather than reacting to every social controversy

What every business leader should ask

If your company never existed, what would be different about the world? This is the acid test of whether you deserve to exist.

Too many founders chase trends. By the time something has a name, it's already late. Instead, identify your unique imprint and build toward it consistently.

In the age of AI, the greatest risk is that only engineers and technologists shape the future. This is dangerous. The best outcomes require multidisciplinary teams: humanities scholars, artists, scientists, and creative thinkers alongside engineers.

• Ask yourself why your company deserves to exist
• Identify what only you can uniquely do
• Don't chase trends once they're named; focus on unique contribution
• Enlist diverse perspectives—not just technical ones—to build the future responsibly
• Business leaders have immense power; conscientious use of that power is a responsibility

Building the future, not renovating it

AI is the most powerful tool ever invented. Like nuclear energy, it can light up cities or destroy them. The question isn't whether AI is good or bad; it's what we do with it.

Don't ask "How do we build a new world with AI?" Ask instead: "What kind of world do I want my children to live in?" Start with that vision and work backward.

We are in building mode, not renovation mode. The Industrial Revolution transformed society and also caused numerous wars. This technological revolution will be even more powerful and equally consequential. The outcomes depend entirely on the choices we make together.