KAYAK debuts AI platform to pilot AI-first features alongside new CTO appointment

Yaron Zeidman joins as new CTO to accelerate AI efforts

Travel metsearch egnine KAYAK has rolled out KAYAK.ai, its new AI platform in a chat-first format.

It's said to deliver the most up to date, comprehensive pricing information from more than 400 providers in a format that is "unlike other AI platforms" and one that "travellers can trust".  

Built combining OpenAI’s technology with KAYAK’s intelligence, the site will serve as the company’s innovation lab for analysing how travellers engage with KAYAK tools, data and insights conversationally.

Designed to cater to AI enthusiasts and those drawn to advanced technology, the firm have said whatever works best on KAYAK.ai will graduate to KAYAK.com.  

“KAYAK.ai provides a creative sandbox for our tech teams to innovate and offers a fun platform tailored to travellers who enjoy using ChatGPT and similar tools,” said Steve Hafner, CEO of KAYAK. 

“As we learn what people love on .ai, we will bring those features to KAYAK.com for all travellers.”   

KAYAK.ai can help with price drops, finding flights without layovers, hote searches, itinerary planning and trip tracking for delays. 

At the same time KAYAK has announced a major senior management appointment with Yaron Zeidman joining the firm as its new CTO to accelerate AI initiatives.  

He brings 29 years of experience and a fresh perspective to the company as the first CTO for the brand outside of its original founding team. 

An ex-Agoda veteran, Zeidman most recently led product and engineering at Job&talent where he helped build one of the largest AI-driven staffing platforms in the world.

Zeidman will lead KAYAK’s 400+ global product and engineering teams forward with AI advancement and personalisation at the top of his to-do list.