Expedia CEO Ariane Gorin on the fight to ensure AI doesn’t turn her brands into invisible pipes consumers never see

AI is reshaping the travel experience as many of us turn to large language models to plan and even pay for trips.  That presents both an opportunity and a potential threat for leaders like Gorin—and Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel, with whom we spoke earlier this year. The opportunity: to deploy AI internally and forge partnerships that embed the group’s Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo functionality within the LLMs. The risk: hallucinations, privacy violations, and the specter of LLMs reducing the need for travel sites or turning them into invisible pipes that consumers never see.

“We’ve been working for years with Google and Bing … and now it’s about deepening our partnerships,” said Gorin, adding that AI has enabled innovation like Expedia’s new trip-matching feature that turns Instagram reels into bookable travel experiences. “It’s been quite fun to challenge ourselves to say, ‘how do we make sure that our brands are showing up well there?’”

Gorin also talks about building up Brand USA among foreigners during this delicate time when former stalwarts (hello, Canada!) may be staying away and events from the World Cup to America’s 250^th anniversary are expected to boost tourism. Her approach is to start with telling the story that Americans are “making it welcoming, that we’re making the infrastructure welcoming, we’re making it easy to come to the country.”  

That’s a message many leaders would love to rally around. You can listen to our conversation on Apple or Spotify. Also, the CEO Daily team is taking a break for the holidays. See you back here on January 5. As always, we welcome your thoughts and appreciate you reading what we write.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top news

U.S. sends more troops to the Caribbean 

Large numbers of ships, special-operations aircraft, troops, and equipment are being amassed by the U.S. military in the Caribbean in a buildup to a potential attack on Venezuela, which may include airstrikes on Venezuelan soil. “We have a massive armada formed, the biggest we’ve ever had, and by far the biggest we’ve ever had in South America,” President Trump said. “Soon we will be starting the same program on land.” Trump wants to force Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro out of office.

Trump flew on Epstein’s plane more often than thought

The U.S. Justice Department released thousands more documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, and many made mention of President Donald Trump. None of them describe wrongdoing. But one email, from an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, said flight records showed Trump used Epstein’s jet “many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware).” There are 700,000 more pages of Epstein material on the way—so expect the headlines on this issue to last another week.

Epstein sought Wall Street giants as executors of his will

The Epstein documents show that the late financier hoped that high-powered Wall Street execs would be the executors of his estate. He named Jimmy Cayne, the former CEO of Bear Stearns; Jes Staley, formerly of JPMorgan and an ex-CEO of Barclays, Goldman Sachs legal chief Kathryn Ruemmler, and former Treasury secretary Larry Summers as executors in various versions of his will. It is not clear that any of them knew they were named by Epstein. 

Big Tech companies have $120 billion in off-balance sheet debt

Meta, xAI, Oracle, CoreWeave and others have moved $120 billion in spending on AI data centers off their balance sheets and into special-purpose vehicles or private credit entities funded by Pimco, BlackRock, Apollo, Blue Owl Capital , JPMorgan, and others, according to a Financial Times analysis.

U.S. GDP fueled mostly by AI

U.S. GDP grew 4.3% in Q3, far surpassing expectations, but most of that growth comes from one thing: AI data centers. Pantheon Macroeconomics said that private fixed investment—a measure of how much companies are spending—“is rising only due to AI-related spending.” All other private fixed investment is actually in decline. Deutsche Bank said, “Investment in AI-related sectors is critical to GDP growth [and the] U.S. would be close to recession this year if it weren’t for tech-related spending.”

Trump Administration bans former EU commissioner from entering the U.S.

Thierry Breton, the former European Union commissioner who backed the Digital Services Act, and four anti-disinformation campaigners have been banned from entering the U.S. “The State Department is taking decisive action against five individuals who have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. The DSA bans U.S. tech platforms from targeting users with data based on gender, race, religion, or age. Targeting children with ads will also be prohibited. It also requires platforms to take down content that incites terrorism or child sexual abuse.

Progress in Ukraine-Russia peace talks

Ukraine’s President Zelensky is hopeful he can persuade the U.S. to support a proposal that would halt Russia’s war along the current contact lines. Russia has suggested it could pull back troops from some areas, Zelensky said, but Ukraine is reluctant to cede territory it controls.

The markets

S&P 500 futures were flat this morning. The last session closed up 0.46% to hit a new record of 6,909.79. STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.39% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.12% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.14%. China’s CSI 300 was up 0.29%. The South Korea KOSPI was down 0.21%. India’s NIFTY 50 was down 0.14%. Bitcoin was at $87K.

Around the watercooler

The AI startups founders and VCs say could be acquisition targets in 2026 by Allie Garfinkle

‘Precarious’ is Wall Street’s defining word for 2026 by Eleanor Pringle

CEOs reveal their New Year’s resolutions for 2026: From 8-day bike races and AI training, to finally cracking 7 hours of sleep a night by Emma Burleigh

In 2026, CFOs predict AI transformation, not just efficiency gains by Sheryl Estrada 

Hoping AI will give you more work-life balance in 2026? Fortune 500 CEOs warn otherwise by Preston Fore

JPMorgan to allow crypto trading for institutional clients in latest embrace of the sector by Carlos Garcia

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams, Jim Edwards, and Lee Clifford.