Squawk Pod – NHL Deal with Kalshi CEO & AI with Airbnb CEO

Date: October 22, 2025
Hosts: Joe Kernen, Becky Quick, Andrew Ross Sorkin
Featured Guests:

• Tariq Mansour, CEO & Co-Founder of Kalshi
• Brian Chesky, CEO & Co-Founder of Airbnb

Episode Overview

This episode of Squawk Pod spotlights two major interviews:

1. A landmark partnership between the NHL and prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket, featuring Tariq Mansour, CEO of Kalshi.
2. Airbnb’s new product suite and its ongoing commitment to artificial intelligence and AI-powered customer service, in a candid discussion with CEO Brian Chesky.

Conversations also touch on hot topics like fluctuations in commodities, the scale and impact of new data centers, and concerns about AI reliability—framed, as always, with the show’s trademark banter and critical analysis.

Key Segments & Timelines

1. Market Headlines & Artificial Intelligence Reliability

[02:24 – 17:13]

Rapid Recap of Market Movers

• Gold & Silver: Sizable drops (gold down 5.75%, worst since 2013; silver down 7.1%). Move seen as an overdue pullback after a year of strong gains.
• Crypto: Bitcoin down 3.5% to $108,000.
• Oil: Up 1.3% (WTI at $58); Trump claims India will ease purchases of Russian crude oil.
• Netflix: Missed Q3 profits due to a Brazilian tax dispute but saw best-ever quarter for ad sales.
• Texas Instruments: Shares drop on weak Q4 outlook; trade tariffs create sector uncertainty.
• Mattel: Q3 revenue and profit miss; global Barbie sales drop 17% YoY.

Banter Highlights

• Jokes about AI chatbots’ fallibility and various streaming hits.
• Quips on “how strange” succeeding seasons of “Stranger Things” have become.

Data Centers, Power, & AI's Hidden Costs

[08:58 – 12:09]

• Meta’s Massive Data Center: Meta, with Blue Owl Capital, to build an enormous (1,700 football fields) data center in Louisiana—consuming twice as much electricity as New Orleans.
• Community Concerns: These projects drive local electric costs higher (2.7x in affected regions over five years).

Andrew Ross Sorkin on energy costs:
“Think about that. People are worried about AI taking their job and now they're going to start worrying about them taking their electric, taking their electricity.” ([10:57])

AI Chatbot Accuracy Worries

• European studies show leading AI assistants misrepresent news ~45% of the time.
• Sourcing and distinguishing fact vs opinion still problematic.

Joe Kernen (on chatbot reliability):
“After all that, the answers are wrong half the time. Hey, I got this new drug I designed for you. This is going to be awesome for you. Oh, sorry, that was for some other disease. This is going to kill you.” ([14:00])

General Consensus

• Show hosts express skepticism about full AI reliability in sensitive domains.
• “Humans are going to be involved in this.” – Andrew Ross Sorkin ([14:26])

2. Exclusive: NHL Partners with Kalshi & Polymarket

[19:28 – 26:05]

Guest: Tariq Mansour, CEO, Kalshi
Moderator: Becky Quick

Context & Deal Significance

• NHL is the first major sports league to partner with prediction markets.
• Kalshi’s regulatory compliance and “market integrity” cited as keys to the deal.

Tariq Mansour (on NHL partnership):
“A league like the NHL partnering with us is a strong sign that prediction markets are here to stay.” ([19:56])

Sportsbooks vs. Prediction Markets

• The partnership challenges incumbents like FanDuel/DraftKings, though Mansour frames it as a technology-driven industry shift.

Tariq Mansour:
“I think there is a business model disruption here…When there is fundamental technological disruption, technology that transforms an industry...there are sometimes critics...What we're really focused on is building a really good product.” ([20:41])

Regulatory Questions & Market Reach

• Kalshi operates in all 50 states, even where sportsbooks are restricted.
• Asserts confidence in their CFTC-regulated structure; acknowledges ongoing legal challenges but points to the federal framework.

Tariq Mansour:
“We’ve worked for years with the CFC to regulate prediction markets and, you know, develop a framework for customer protection.” ([21:56])

Market Activity, Volume, & Seasonality

• Over $2B in trading volume; majority is now sports-related.
• Top markets shift with the news cycle—from elections to sports, to finance, to policy concerns (e.g., government shutdown).

Tariq Mansour:
“It really depends on what's top of mind and what's trending in people's mind and what people have opinions about or what people want to hedge.” ([23:42])

• Current prediction: Government shutdown to last 41.5 days, would become the longest in history. ([24:40])

Future Prospects

• Talks underway with other big sports leagues.
• NHL deal as a template “for us to collaborate with a big four league” and new frameworks for data sharing, anti-fraud, and customer protection.

Tariq Mansour:
“Be on the lookout for more announcements soon.” ([25:30])

3. In Depth: Airbnb’s New Products & its AI Philosophy

[27:39 – 37:09]

Guest: Brian Chesky, CEO, Airbnb
Moderator: Andrew Ross Sorkin, Joe Kernen, Becky Quick

Airbnb’s Evolution: More than Just Stays

• Major revamp: 65 upgrades, including new features for making “experiences” social and smarter maps/search.
• Focus on creating “social” experiences by allowing users to connect, message, and stay in touch post-experience.

Brian Chesky:
“We launched services, we launched experiences. And since then, we've been hard at work.” ([28:04])

The Move Into Services

• Targeting local service marketplace gaps (e.g., finding a haircut or makeup in a city)—currently rolling out city-by-city, with focus cities including Paris and Louisiana.

Brian Chesky:
“There's no Amazon for services. People say Amazon's the everything store. It's actually the everything in a cardboard box store.” ([28:54])

Comedy Break

• Joe Kernen: “Is there a feature where I can guarantee I won't meet anyone?”
• Brian Chesky: “Every service is totally…You can prevent me from meeting…Exactly. Yes.” ([29:20])

AI Customer Service at Airbnb

• Custom, multi-model AI agent handling over 100,000 cases, reducing need for human agents by 15%.
• Users get problems solved in “six seconds,” with honest disclosure about AI vs. human agents.

Brian Chesky:
“Customer service is one of the best uses of AI… Our agent is more personalized. We developed a custom interface where it can take actions for you. So it’s really useful.” ([29:57])

Withholding from Deeper ChatGPT Integration—For Now

• No deep integration yet due to inadequate SDK robustness; Airbnb prefers more control over UI and community.
• Concerns raised about not wanting to be “just a product in an aisle” of an aggregator like ChatGPT or Google.

Brian Chesky:
“When you join Airbnb, it's not a commodity, it's a community. And they got to develop the SDK a lot more.” ([31:12])

Brian Chesky:
“You want to make sure you're not just a product in aisle. You have your own little...brand.” ([32:03])

AI’s Disruptive Potential—and Realism About Platforms

• Skeptical that a single platform (ChatGPT or otherwise) will “own everything.”
• Predicts coming “leveling of the playing field” as APIs make AI widely accessible.
• “Gold rush” era: Most current AI startups are enterprise-focused; consumer impact is just getting started.

Brian Chesky:
“Right now it's like a gold rush. Intelligence is the gold and everyone's just making picks and shovels.” ([33:32])

ROI in the Age of Data Center Arms Race

• Discusses Meta’s $27B data center and the challenge that GPU hardware depreciates quickly; urges caution against AI investment euphoria.

Brian Chesky:
“Will this technology generate trillions of dollars? Returns 100% it will...I think we need to be careful about like excitement turning to euphoria turning into mania.” ([35:05])

The State of Travel

• Despite global instability and tariffs, travel remains resilient; people still find ways, even if changing destinations or trip length.

Brian Chesky:
“I've been shocked the last six years with pandemic... wars...massive change. Like travel's been pretty stable.” ([35:57])

Notable Quotes & Moments

On Prediction Markets and Sports:

• Tariq Mansour: “A league like the NHL partnering with us is a strong sign that prediction markets are here to stay.” ([19:56])

On AI’s Potential Pitfalls:

• Joe Kernen: “After all that, the answers are wrong half the time...This is going to kill you. I mean, we got to get this together quickly.” ([14:00])

On AI Gold Rush:

• Brian Chesky: “Right now it's like a gold rush. Intelligence is the gold and everyone's just making picks and shovels.” ([33:32])

On Platform Power:

• Brian Chesky: “One company can’t just run the global economy. That’s just not going to happen.” ([32:55])

Takeaways for Listeners

• The NHL’s partnership with Kalshi signifies emerging acceptance of prediction markets in pro sports, with major volume shifting to sports contracts and ongoing regulatory scrutiny.
• Airbnb is doubling down on consumer experience innovations: making experiences more social and leveraging powerful AI for customer service—while maintaining control over their platform rather than just being another “data layer” for Big AI.
• There is growing unease (and humor) around the accuracy and societal impact of AI tools, mirrored by debates over their infrastructure and power needs.
• The hosts highlight the “gold rush” of AI, warning against short-term mania and pointing out how consumer-facing changes may soon ripple into daily life.

This summary delivers key themes, granular segment breakdowns, and highlights of both wit and wisdom from the day’s show, keeping the original voices and energy intact.