Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia recently clarified his role in Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), revealing that he will apply his design expertise to modernize the government’s slow and paper-heavy retirement system. Gebbia shared on X that his initial focus would be improving the retirement process, which was recently challenged to be fully digital within just one week.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had been under pressure for years to modernize, as retirees were facing delays of over 90 days for benefits. A recent pilot program aimed to address these delays by introducing an online retirement platform, and employees managed to reduce the process time to just two days.
Gebbia, a billionaire thanks to his role at Airbnb and board position at Tesla, expressed his desire to take on a new challenge after leaving Airbnb in 2022. He highlighted that improving government systems is a crucial digital design challenge. Gebbia also co-founded Samara, a company that creates customizable pre-fabricated homes.
Some Airbnb hosts have expressed dissatisfaction with Gebbia’s new role, with some pulling their listings. Airbnb clarified that Gebbia has not been involved in the company’s operations since 2022, emphasizing the diverse perspectives of their global community.
