Airbnb has new tool to weed out certain renters

In the Bay Area, Airbnb has seen a rash of bad actors renting houses and throwing parties where guests have been shot. Five people were killed at an Orinda "party house" late last year. Hayward logged its first fatal shooting of 2020 at an Airbnb that neighbors said was frequently used for parties.  Incidents like these are rare, but a growing concern for the home-sharing giant.

One tool in the company's arsenal to combat problems such as these is artificial intelligence (AI). In 2017, Airbnb acquired a small Los Altos AI company called Trooly, which conducts background checks on potential clients by scanning social media, search engines, blogs and other publicly available information to determine their likelihood to be troublemakers.