Airbnb makes AI gamble in quest to prevent house parties
By BBC, October 27, 2023How would you feel if you rented out your home for a few nights, only to return and find that it had been used to hold a raucous house party? As you looked aghast at the damage to your property, you’d either be livid or upset, or a combination of both.
Such scenarios have been widely reported around the world in recent years, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. With bars and nightclubs then closed, young adults, in particular, wanted to find somewhere else to hang out, dance and potentially drink too much.
It sparked a fightback from short-term rental giant Airbnb, which announced a “global party ban”, and vowed to do all it could to prevent such behaviour. This included banning offenders from making new bookings, and restrictions on under-25s who didn’t have a history of excellent reviews.
Artifical intelligence
Airbnb said recently that as a result of its clampdown the number of reported parties dropped by 55 per cent between 2020 and last year. But with the battle not yet won, the US firm has now upped the ante and introduced an artificial intelligence (AI) powered software system to help weed out potential troublemakers.
Now operating worldwide, when you try to make an Airbnb booking the AI automatically looks out for things such as how recently you created your account, and – big red flag – whether you are trying to rent a property in the same town or city as where you live.
It also questions the duration of your stay – one night only is a potential concern – and whether the planned visit is occurring during a revelry-heavy period such as Halloween or New Year’s Eve. ”If someone is booking a room during New Year’s Eve for one night only, and they are from the same city as the host, that’s likely to be a party,” says Naba Banerjee, head of safety and trust at Airbnb.
Ms Banerjee adds that if the AI deems that the risk of a party booking is too high, it will prevent the booking, or instead guide the person to the website of one of its partner hotel companies. She says it is an issue of trust, that people renting out their homes via Airbnb are as reassured as possible.