Connect with us

Tools & Platforms

Airbnb’s AI technology to combat unauthorized parties in Atlanta during July Fourth

Published

5 days ago

on


How Airbnb is cracking down on party houses

Airbnb is intensifying its efforts to prevent house parties during the Fourth of July holiday by introducing what it refers to as “anti-party technology” in Atlanta. The app has implemented a ban on parties at properties listed on its platform.

ATLANTA – Airbnb is ramping up efforts to prevent unauthorized house parties in Atlanta during the July Fourth holiday week, using what it calls “anti-party technology” that leverages machine learning to identify and block high-risk reservations.

The short-term rental platform has banned house parties since 2020, and this year, it’s warning would-be partygoers in Atlanta: don’t even try.

What they’re saying:

“Parties that are not behavior that we want to see on our platform,” said Jackie McGraw, a spokesperson for Airbnb. “It’s scanning hundreds of signals to identify reservations deemed higher risk.”

The company says the system analyzes a variety of booking characteristics — including the type of listing, the duration of the stay, the distance the guest is traveling, and whether the reservation was made last-minute — to predict whether a booking might lead to a party. If a reservation is flagged, it will be blocked or the guest will be referred to another property, according to McGraw.

“If it does identify a reservation or potentially higher risk, that reservation will be blocked or the guests will be referred to an alternative accommodation,” she said.

Airbnb first deployed the technology during New Year’s Eve celebrations and says it worked. Across Georgia, the company blocked 2,400 potentially risky bookings around the holiday — including 900 in Atlanta alone.

Now, Airbnb is applying the same AI-based approach to July Fourth — a holiday often associated with large gatherings and celebrations.

For those attempting to skirt the system and throw a party anyway, Airbnb is warning of consequences.

“It can result in the removal or suspension of both the host and the guest,” McGraw said.

If a guest is mistakenly flagged and still wants to book, the company requires them to sign what’s called an “anti-party attestation,” a contract pledging not to host a party at the rental.

What’s next:

Airbnb says only about 0.15 percent of bookings globally are flagged as potential parties since implementing the new technology. Still, the company says it’s committed to keeping neighborhoods safe and quiet during peak holiday periods — especially in cities like Atlanta.

The Source: FOX 5’s Rob DiRienzo spoke with  Jackie McGraw, a spokesperson for Airbnb, for this article. 

AtlantaTravelTravel NewsConsumerGeorgiaNews



Source link

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tools & Platforms

Tech Companies Pay $200,000 Premiums for AI Experience: Report

Published

1 hour ago

on

July 7, 2025

By


  • A consulting firm found that tech companies are “strategically overpaying” recruits with AI experience.
  • They found firms pay premiums of up to $200,000 for data scientists with machine learning skills.
  • The report also tracked a rise in bonuses for lower-level software engineers and analysts.

The AI talent bidding war is heating up, and the data scientists and software engineers behind the tech are benefiting from being caught in the middle.

Many tech companies are “strategically overpaying” recruits with AI experience, shelling out premiums of up to $200,000 for some roles with machine learning skills, J. Thelander Consulting, a compensation data and consulting firm for the private capital market, found in a recent report.

The report, compiled from a compensation analysis of roles across 153 companies, showed that data scientists and analysts with machine learning skills tend to receive a higher premium than software engineers with the same skills. However, the consulting firm also tracked a rise in bonuses for lower-level software engineers and analysts.

The payouts are a big bet, especially among startups. About half of the surveyed companies paying premiums for employees with AI skills had no revenue in the past year, and a majority (71%) had no profit.

Smaller firms need to stand out and be competitive among Big Tech giants — a likely driver behind the pricey recruitment tactic, a spokesperson for the consulting firm told Business Insider.

But while the J. Thelander Consulting report focused on smaller firms, some Big Tech companies have also recently made headlines for their sky-high recruitment incentives.

Meta was in the spotlight last month after Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said the social media giant had tried to poach his best employees with $100 million signing bonuses. 

While Business Insider previously reported that Altman later quipped that none of his “best people” had been enticed by the deal, Meta’s chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, said in an interview with CNBC that Altman “neglected to mention that he’s countering those offers.”





Source link

Continue Reading

Tools & Platforms

Your browser is not supported

Published

1 hour ago

on

July 7, 2025

By


Your browser is not supported | usatoday.com
logo

usatoday.com wants to ensure the best experience for all of our readers, so we built our site to take advantage of the latest technology, making it faster and easier to use.

Unfortunately, your browser is not supported. Please download one of these browsers for the best experience on usatoday.com



Source link

Continue Reading

Tools & Platforms

From software engineers to CEO: OpenAI VP Srinivas Narayanan says AI redefining engineering field – Technology News

Published

1 hour ago

on

July 7, 2025

By


In a recent comment on the importance of AI in the field of jobs, OpenAI’s VP of Engineering, Srinivas Narayanan has said that AI can make software engineers CEOs. The role of software engineers is undergoing a fundamental transformation, with artificial intelligence pushing them to adopt a strategic, “CEO-like” mindset, said Narayanan, at the IIT Madras Alumni Association’s Sangam 2025 conference. 

Narayanan emphasised that AI will increasingly handle the “how” of execution, freeing engineers to focus on the “what” and “why” of problem-solving. “The job is shifting from just writing code to asking the right questions and defining the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of a problem,” Narayanan stated on Saturday. “For every software engineer, the job is going to shift from being an engineer to being a CEO. You now have the tools to do so much more, so I think that means you should aspire bigger,” he said.

“Of course, software is interesting and exciting, but just the ability to think bigger is going to be incredibly empowering for people, and the people who succeed (in the future) are the ones who are going to be able to think bigger,” he added.

Joining Narayanan on stage, Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer Aparna Chennapragada echoed this sentiment, cautioning against simply retrofitting AI onto existing tools. “AI isn’t a feature you can just add on. We need to start building with an AI-first mindset,” she asserted, highlighting how natural language interfaces are replacing traditional user experience layers. Chennapragada also coined the phrase, “Prompt sets are the new PRDs,” referring to how product teams are now collaborating closely with AI models for faster and smarter prototyping.

Narayanan shared a few examples of AI’s ever-expanding capabilities, including a reasoning model developed by OpenAI that successfully identified rare genetic disorders in a Berkeley-linked research lab. He said there’s enormous potential of AI as a collaborator, even in complex research fields.

Not all is good with AI

While acknowledging the transformative power, Narayanan also addressed the inherent risks of AI, such as misinformation and unsafe outputs. He mentioned OpenAI’s iterative deployment philosophy, citing a recent instance where a model exhibiting “sycophancy” traits was rolled back during testing. Both speakers underscored the importance of accessibility and scale, with Narayanan noting a significant 100-fold drop in model costs over the past two years, aligning with OpenAI’s mission to “democratise intelligence.”



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending