In the new AI-driven business world, it’s either sink or swim. As thousands of jobs are being automated and roles are enhanced by the tech, talent need AI skills to even be considered for a gig—and it’s a prerequisite for corporations now, too.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says AI has been instrumental to the success of his $73.5 billion short-term rental company. Now, the billionaire founder is telling other business leaders that the tech isn’t a just plus, it’s a necessity.
His warning is clear: If they don’t embrace AI soon, they’ll sink.
“From a business standpoint, I think AI is the best thing that ever happened to Airbnb,” Chesky recently told CNBC in an interview.
“The founder-led companies and the companies that are prepared to change and transform are the companies that are going to benefit from AI, because AI means everyone changes,” he added. “And if you don’t change, you’re going to be disrupted.”
Airbnb disrupted itself ‘before someone else’ could—and it’s already paying dividends
Just last week, the company dropped its fourth-quarter 2025 earnings report, besting analyst estimates by hitting $2.78 billion in revenue and a grossing booking value of $20.4 billion, up 16% year-over-year.
Chesky credited the vast majority of the performance to new “innovations,” pointing to AI directly as a key factor in the company’s technological growth. AI currently powers a third of Airbnb’s customer service tickets in North America, Chesky explained, and the traffic from chatbots is higher than what they get from traditional search engines. The CEO also argued the tech helps improve search on the platform.
Chesky is determined to be “on the frontier of companies leaning into AI,” instead of bowing out at potential growing pains. Because no matter how resistant businesses or workers are to the next frontier of technology, they’ll still have to face the music in the end.
“If you don’t disrupt yourself, someone else will. And we’re not going to allow people to disrupt ourselves,” Chesky continued. “We’re going to disrupt ourselves first.”
CEOs say AI skills are critical—and that tech-savvy talent is coming for workers
The world has shifted into an era of AI transformation, and it’s come with some big changes. But leaders are adamant that workers shouldn’t get bogged down by the negatives, and leverage the tools to their advantage.
David Rogier, the founder and CEO of MasterClass, maintained that the tech isn’t a threat—AI is actually an important career-booster that some professionals overlook. “If you aren’t using AI and you’re a CEO, what are you doing?” Rogier told Fortune last year. “You are holding yourself back. You’re like, ‘I only want to be 80% as productive as I can be.’”
Just like Chesky, other executives say that disruption is inevitable. Nvidia leader Jensen Huang is adamant that AI won’t be the one swiping roles from humans—instead, it’ll be the tech-savvy talent that gets the job. And as AI spreads into every corner of every industry, no worker will be exempt from keeping up with the tools. It could even mean the difference between holding down your current role and getting the boot.
“Every job will be affected, and immediately. It is unquestionable,” Huang said at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in 2025. “You’re not going to lose your job to an AI, but you’re going to lose your job to someone who uses AI.”
“I would recommend 100% of everybody take advantage of AI,” Jensen advised. “Don’t be that person who ignores this technology and as a result, loses your job.”
Even other industries outside of tech, Ted Sarandos, the co-CEO of streaming empire Netflix, isn’t blind to how AI is impacting entertainment jobs. Just like Huang, he believes the tech won’t be taking over the callsheet—but the creatives who lean into AI will be better off than those who don’t in an already intensely competitive industry.
“I have more faith in humans than that. I really do. I don’t believe that an A.I. program is going to write a better screenplay than a great writer, or is going to replace a great performance,” Sarandos told The New York Times in 2024.
“A.I. is not going to take your job. The person who uses A.I. well might take your job.”
