OpenAI Chairman Tells Travel Industry: Do Not Restrain Your AI Agents

9/30/2026

AI agents could soon become the primary way travelers interact with hospitality brands, handling everything from booking to customer service. Speaking at the Skift Global Forum, OpenAI Chairman Bret Taylor urged travel companies to give AI agents room to reason and solve problems rather than limiting them to rigid workflows. Major travel brands are already moving in that direction: Airbnb plans to introduce an AI agent as a new interface next year, while Expedia, Accor, Uber, and IHG are expanding their use of agentic AI. At the same time, concerns about security, oversight, and AI safety continue to raise questions about how much autonomy these systems should have.

PhocusWire (09/25/26) Matthew Parsons