While Expedia Group has touted artificial intelligence (AI) tools and gains, chairman Barry Diller has warned that the technology will never overtake humans.
He discussed the “dread subject” with Rich Barton, former CEO and founder of Expedia Group, during a wide-ranging conversation onstage at Expedia Group’s Explore partner conference.
Barton surmised that the audience—and he and Diller—were feeling similarly with regard to AI.
“The new aliens have just arrived,” Barton said. “They're on the planet, they're at the ‘take me to your leader stage.’”
What’s happening is prompting questions, Barton continued: “We're all asking ourselves questions like, ‘What is real?’ and ‘Will any business or person survive the invasion?’”
Barton is personally optimistic about the technology. He asked Diller how he felt about the “new wizardry" relative to Expedia and his other businesses.
Diller said AI is certainly the next revolution with “truly unknown consequences.”
AI hype is real—but won’t replace humans
AI is in a hype phase right now. Diller said everyone is trying to understand “exactly what the terrible future might be, what the great future might be.”
Diller said there is no question that the technology is going to help people in a lot of ways—but he cautioned against the idea that AI could overtake human activity.
“Let us not think that all of the actions of every possible kind are going to be led by artificial intelligence,” Diller said. “Artificial is a really good word.”
Short of humankind’s entrance into the simulation—“which may come,” according to Diller—he does not want to be led by “tech lords” imposing a “hegemon.”
Technology is a sure thing, Diller said, pointing to its impact on daily life and businesses. And he predicted that AI will replace some jobs while new roles will be created.
“But it is not the human equation,” Diller said. “I keep going back to that.”
Diller’s revolution resilience
During his tenure with Expedia Group, Diller has experienced more than one period of upheaval.
He was there in the early 2000s when his IAC acquired Expedia following the September 11 attacks in 2001. He weathered the global financial crisis of 2008. He saw Expedia Group through the COVID-19 pandemic.
And Diller has been through past technological revolutions, too.
Barton likened what’s happening with AI to the internet and mobile disruption periods.
“Expedia, born at Microsoft, was full of technology people and was able to create a big arc for its partners, into which all its partners could go and know—even though they were scared about this disruption—they could actually sail safely into the future,” Barton said. “I think that happened with mobile as well.”
Despite similarities with past tech shakeups, Diller has been voicing concerns about AI specifically for years.
In 2024, while onstage at Expedia Group’s Explore, he said he believed the industry was on the edge of what could be its most disruptive period yet.
Prior to that, in 2023, he called for fair use law to be reworked to safeguard published work and warned it could be “destructive” to journalism.
Expedia Group and AI
Diller’s apprehension hasn't stopped his companies from leaning into the technology as it advances.
At Explore, Expedia Group discussed innovations in AI across subsidiaries. The innovations shared in May include an AI property comparison and property expert tool launching later this year for Hotels.com and a natural language tool called Activity Planner coming to Expedia.
And the company’s existing AI efforts are already paying off: Expedia Group shared on its first-quarter earnings call that AI has improved efficiencies.
AI-powered conversions provided enhanced data, with advanced models allowing the company to discover what Ariane Gorin, CEO of Expedia Group, identified as “deeper patterns.”
“In the first quarter, this translated into higher conversion at Vrbo and record attach rates on Expedia,” Gorin said on the earnings call. “Our two most widely adopted features are our servicing agent and AI-powered filters, and travelers who use AI filters return more often and convert at higher rates.”
Later, during Explore, Gorin told reporters that she looks at AI as the company’s "third chapter,” following internet and mobile.
*This reporter's attendance at the event was supported by Expedia Group.