America’s Airbnb has made its first acquisition as a publicly traded company in a deal that values it at under $200 million.
CNBC reports this, according to Ukrinform.
The acquired AI startup, called Gameplanner.AI, has been operating in “stealth mode” since its inception in 2020.
Secret startups operate out of public view for a variety of reasons, such as protecting intellectual property or avoiding distraction.
According to Airbnb, Gameplanner.AI will accelerate some of the company’s artificial intelligence projects.
It is stated that the co-founder of Gameplanner.AI is Adam Cheyer, one of the founders of the Siri voice assistant.
He worked with Steve Jobs when Siri was acquired by Apple. Cheyer later co-founded Viv Labs, which became the basis for Samsung’s voice assistant.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said generative AI will “fundamentally transform the platform.”
As Ukrinform reports, American company Google is in talks to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Character.AI, while the fast-growing start-up for the development of artificially intelligent chatbots is seeking capital to train its models.