Slip of the tongue: Airbnb CEO confirms Apple's secret car project

In an internal memo to staff, which the company also shared publicly on Tuesday, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced the hiring of his new CTO, Ahmad Al-Dahle. In doing so, Chesky wasn't exactly sticking to the discretion typical in Silicon Valley, revealing details that are likely to cause quite a stir in Cupertino. He wrote the following in the memo:

In 2014, Ahmad created and led Apple’s autonomous technology group, responsible for developing the core AI systems for the company’s self-driving car project.

For the first time, it's official: Yes, the "self-driving car project" existed. This is unprecedented. Normally, former employees describe their time at Apple in very cryptic terms on their resumes. They vaguely refer to special projects, autonomous systems or the "Technology Development Group". Airbnb, on the other hand, bluntly calls a spade a spade and even dates the group's launch specifically to 2014.

This is irksome for Apple, even though the project is now history, as the iPhone maker places extreme importance on secrecy. The fact that an external partner has now posthumously confirmed its existence is not without a certain irony. It seems Chesky simply wanted to emphasize the high-caliber expert he had recruited. Al-Dahle is a true Apple veteran: according to the press release, he started in Cupertino back in 2005, two years before the first iPhone. He worked on the multitouch displays of the first Apple phone and later on the first Apple Watch. The fact that someone like him then led the car project shows how serious Apple was at the time.

After his time at Apple, Al-Dahle moved to Meta, where he was most recently responsible for the development of the well-known Llama AI models. The fact that Airbnb CEO Chesky is now using Al-Dahle's Apple past to promote his AI ambitions offers a rare glimpse behind the scenes of the tech giants. Incidentally, Al-Dahle himself continues to adhere to Apple's code of conduct in his own profiles and makes no mention of the car.