Expedia Group has appointed its first chief artificial intelligence and data science officer as the OTA moves to accelerate its AI strategy.
Xavier Amatriain, formerly Google’s vice president of AI and compute enablement, will lead Expedia’s long-term vision for machine learning, generative AI and data science across both its consumer brands and enterprise division. At Google, Amatriain oversaw core AI infrastructure powering Gemini, Search and Ads. He has also held senior engineering roles at Netflix and LinkedIn and advised early teams behind Perplexity and Scale AI.
Expedia said the newly created role underscores its commitment to “transforming travel through first-party data and cutting-edge AI technology.” The company has been piloting integrations with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini, aiming to meet travellers wherever they plan and inspire their trips while strengthening its own search, personalisation and customer service tools.
The hire comes as AI leaders, including Google, begin testing agentic systems capable of managing more parts of the travel journey – including booking. For OTAs, the challenge is competing on experience, value, and service while relying on the very platforms that could undercut them.
Amatriain said the industry is at an “inflection point” as generative and adaptive technologies reshape how travellers explore the world. Expedia CTO Ramana Thumu said Amatriain’s “deep expertise in building large-scale AI platforms” will support the company’s ambition to redefine the traveller experience.
