Congress Probes Airbnb's Use of Chinese AI Models Over Security Fears

US House committees on China and homeland security have launched a probe into Airbnb's use of Alibaba's Qwen large language model for its customer service chatbot. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky defended the practice in a Bloomberg TV interview, stating the company uses open-source models (including US ones) and that open-source models do not have access to user data. He rejected concerns about Chinese firms accessing American data, calling the worries a misunderstanding. The committee chairs cited national security and data-security implications, arguing that Qwen is subject to China's ideological conditioning mandates, introducing structural vulnerabilities.

This probe reflects escalating US-China AI competition and a widening gap between Silicon Valley pragmatism and Washington's national security instincts. A new bipartisan bill, the U.S. Tech PATH Act, aims to counter Chinese low-cost tech dominance by streamlining procurement of American cyber technologies by allied governments, authorizing $500 million over five years. Meanwhile, data from OpenRouter shows Chinese open-source LLMs' global share surged from 1.2% in late 2024 to nearly 30% in just months of 2025, underscoring the economic pressures driving adoption of cheaper alternatives.