Alan Yao

Senior Staff Engineer at Airbnb

I work on DevAI, AI-native infrastructure and app infrastructure. Also auth, both authn and authz.

Work

Himeji: A Scalable Centralized System for Authorization at Airbnb

Builds

Games

I ask AI models to each build a complete browser game from one prompt, then play and rate them.

All gamesThe bench

Namae

My app for two people choosing a baby name. Each rates names on their own phone, and it shows where they agree. The phones sync encrypted updates through public relays, with no server of its own.

Open Namae

  • Namae's card for the name Rowan: a neutral name, 78% boys, ranked 59th for boys and rising fast, meaning “little red one”. Under it are three buttons: Nope, It's alright and Love it.
    A name
  • Namae's detail sheet for Rowan, at “Where it's popular”: the United States drawn as a grid of state tiles, each shaded by how the name ranks for boys there, with California outlined.
    By state
  • Namae's match screen. It reads “You both love Rowan”. Two paper strips with the name hang from a bamboo branch against an evening sky, and a white bunny cheers under them.
    A match