Booking.com's Siddhartha Choudhury: Combating Internet Fraud with Artificial Intelligence

AI News recently interviewed Siddhartha Choudhury, Senior Product Manager at Booking.com, to learn how the company uses technology to safeguard your bookings and secure your data against threats such as online fraud.

When you book a trip online, you entrust a website with your money, personal information, and travel plans. For a massive entity like Booking.com, maintaining that confidence for millions daily is a monumental task. What is their strategy? Increasingly, the answer is artificial intelligence.

Booking.com processes an overwhelming volume of data. It's not just about stopping fraudulent credit card use; the platform needs to detect everything from fake reviews and scams to phishing attempts and account breaches.

"We use AI for a broad spectrum of safety and fraud risk mitigation," Choudhury explained. "We manage petabytes of data, including events from applications, infrastructure, messages, and emails," he said.

To tackle this challenge, Booking.com doesn't depend on a single solution. "We combine vendor-supplied machine learning solutions with our proprietary technology to identify and thwart fraudulent activities," Choudhury emphasized.

In summary, Booking.com integrates top-tier commercial software with its bespoke AI to create a robust security framework, safeguarding both travelers and accommodation providers.

Operating such a widespread security system isn't a walk in the park. One major challenge is integrating the diverse set of internal and external tools. Yet, Choudhury pointed out a tougher, ongoing challenge: balancing performance and cost.

As cyberattacks evolve, defenses must continually improve, which often means higher costs.

"With incessant cyber threats, attacks grow more intricate and our data scale keeps expanding," remarked Choudhury. "The primary dilemma is whether to prioritize cost-efficiency or enhance performance," he admitted.

There's a saying that the best defense is a good offense. Rather than merely responding to issues, Booking.com uses AI to detect potential threats proactively. Migrating their systems to the cloud has been pivotal in facilitating more intelligent and efficient tools.

Choudhury shared that their on-ground security experts now have technological aids. "Digital assistants are running concurrently to boost the efficiency of security analysts," he said.

Allowing seasoned human experts to partner with digital counterparts that can sift through vast data quickly ensures the experts can concentrate on the most critical threats, with robust systems ensuring the AI operates accurately.

Empowering AI with significant security decision-making demands vigilance to prevent bias. Choudhury emphasized that ethics are central to their strategy, which rests on several key principles.

Looking ahead, Choudhury envisions the future not in discovering new functions for AI but in optimizing the existing tools for efficiency.

"I foresee the development of more solutions, with a focus on integrating them effectively to enhance departmental efficiency," Choudhury projected.

The objective is to build an interconnected security framework. Booking.com's clear mission is to "Innovate while ensuring reliability and cost-effectiveness," Choudhury said.

For consumers, AI provides reassurance that clicking 'book' won't lead to fraud.

Siddhartha Choudhury and his team at Booking.com will further discuss these insights at the AI & Big Data Expo Europe in Amsterdam on 24-25 September 2025. Choudhury will speak during a panel titled 'Innovation at Scale: Gen AI, Cloud Platforms, and Data-Driven Development' on the second day of this significant industry event.