How would you react if you rented out your home for a few nights, only to come back and discover it had been used to host a wild house party?
If I saw the damage that had been caused on my property, I would either be pissed off, angry or both.
Most people have witnessed them globally these days, with particular reference to Covid-19 period. After closing pubs, bars and the most of the nightclubs, youth, especially youngsters were looking for similar places to spend their off-days – dancing, drinking a lot and socializing.
This prompted a backlash from the short-term rental giant, Airbnb, which declared a “ban on global parties”, swearing it would take all necessary measures to avoid such situations. Such measures as prohibition of offenders from fresh booking, as well as prohibitions to persons under 2 years old without good records were implemented here.
Recently, Airbnb said that the number of reported parties during 2020 to last year declined by 55%. However, with the battle still unfolding the US company is now playing its cards right by introducing an artificial intelligence powered system that will seek to weed out possible enemies.
It is currently running operations all over the world. When you attempt to make a new booking on Airbnb, the artificial intelligence will immediately check if it has been established that: one, you created your account less than 6 months ago; and two, you want to stay within the same city
Secondly, it asks about how long you are staying – one night could be problematic in itself – and whether you are going to celebrate Halloween or New Year’s party.
You’d have the look of being astonished at the damages that had been caused to your property and would either be furious or sad or a mixture of the two feelings.
In contemporary times, these situations are highly prevalent; they were widely mentioned within a short period of time even during the covid19 periods. Young adults specifically needed places where they could gather, dance and perhaps drink excessively with bars and the clubs closed down.
This ignited a counter back from Airbnb short term rental giant, who declared and swore to do everything it takes to evade such behavior. For example, it restricted bookings by offenders, imposed curbs on under-25s with bad track records.
Recently, the giant said it cut off on over half the number of reported parties, dropping the share by 55%, from 2020 to last year. However, the fight is not over, as the US company has responded by implementing an artificially intelligent software in order to remove possible disrupters.
Currently working globally, if today while making an airbnb booking, the Ai examines such things as how long ago you have created your account, and -major warning sign- what happens, when you are seeking accommodation in the same location where you reside?
Moreover, it will also look into how long you are planning to stay – one night can be a cause for concern especially if it takes an area with a lot of parties e.g., Halloween or New Year’s Eve time.
“A party” could mean someone booking a room during New Year’s Eve for one night only as a local, according to Naba Banerjee, Head of Safety and Trust at AirBnB.
Ms Banerjee states that if the AI perceives that the chance for a particular party’s reservation presents a potential problem, a denial or referral to their partner hotels’ websites can occur. […] Airbnb makes sure you feel safe about trust when renting your house, reassuring hosts and guests like this.
One such individual is Lucy Paterson. Wen rents a one-bedroom annex at Worcestershire, with over 150 reservations for the same since renting it.
“A plan to become an Airbnb host and that’s all I have it’s only one bedroom for the purpose of reducing parties,” she explains..” Of course, not every time everything has been perfect; however, more than 99% of my guests were terrific.
To this end, she states that Airbnb’s newest AI application gave “her additional assurance”.
Moving on, Ms Bannerjee believes that the AI will only grow stronger and stronger with time as it will constantly process more and more data and thus, will learn continually.
Another large AI system is deployed in car sharing online marketplace, Turo to ensure safety for those giving others car rental services.
Through a software known as DataRobot AI threat of theft could be spotted very fast. In addition to this, car prices are calculated depending on the capacity of the vehicle, power and speed rating. The time a driver intends to start his hiring period is also considered.
Turo also separately incorporates artificial intelligence, which lets certain other users speak to its app, asking for a particular vehicle and date. Following up, the AI will respond, with text displayed on screen giving a tailored list of suggested cars as per the requirements. This service is offered to subscribers using the popular consumer AI system, ChatGPT-4, incorporated into Turo’s own system.
Says Albert Mangahas, the firm’s chief data officer, “We want to make it easy to look for Turo, and that can help establish trust between us and our customers.”
That being said, Edward McFowland III, Assistant Professor of Technology and Operating Management at Harvard Business School, argues that if properly applied, AI can be used for profiling potential problem customers. That is where the layer of AI may come in handy to reduce the friction between business as well as consumers.
He argues nonetheless, that even a properly adjusted AI model can give rise to false negatives; like turning away a youth who aims at hiring a flat for New Year’s Eve; without intending to arrange an all-night party. “That’s also why building perfect AI-technology is very hard.”
Image credit by propertykeeper.co.uk
Lara Bozabalian’s family’s 100 sq meters cottage in Toronto, Cananda is available for rent via Airbnb. She asserts no matter how appealing the offer is as per the AI prediction or any reasons, she trusts no rule but hers.
I do not deal with first time customers and require that whoever vetted them before referred them to my office.
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