Can ChatGPT plan your vacation? What you need to know about artificial intelligence and travel

One day in the not too distant future, powered by artificial intelligence, your

could start by saying something like this to your smartphone:

"I want to take a four-day trip to Los Angeles in June when air and hotel rates are better, using accumulated points as loyalty rewards. I want to go to a history museum and an amusement park, and then I'd like to book for dinner at seven in the evening near the hotel in a restaurant with vegan options and a great wine list".

And then your

.

A computer screen displays the text of the ChatGPT page on the OpenAI website.

Photo AP Photo/Richard Drew, File

But for now, those who want to travel and use ChatGPT - the powerful new artificial intelligence, or AI software that already provides creative cocktail recipes and writes college papers - should probably

Oded Battat, CEO of Bridgeport, Connecticut-based travel agency Traveland, asked ChatGPT what outings he could offer his clients traveling to Tuscany, Italy, to see if the program would be useful to them. in connection with your work.

He got a list of 14 activities, including visits to wineries and museums, with a stop for ice cream in the square of the medieval hilltop town of San Gimignano.

San Gimignano, in Tuscany.

Photo Shutterstock

"I knew all this stuff," Battat said, but added that ChatGPT

and delivered it to him in a format he could email to each client.

ChatGPT, the service that Oded Battat has started using, burst onto the scene in November and has already started stirring up tech-driven business sectors, including travel.

Unlike the AI ​​that is already familiar to most consumers - think chatbots or website chatbots -

, which means that in addition to analyzing or summarizing content from a huge collection of information, including web pages, books and other writings available on the Internet, you can use that data to create new original content.

Its advanced natural language capabilities also allow you to understand and respond more colloquially.

Multiple uses, and limitations

The travel industry may never be the same again.

The travel community can now "converse" with the system, giving it information such as destination, time of year and their personal interests, and receiving back a

embellished with vivid descriptions.

Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.

Photo James MacDonald/Bloomberg

A journalist's request for a two-day itinerary in the town of

, British Columbia, for a winter excursion sparked ideas like snowshoeing with a guide to show you the local flora and fauna, or taking a ride in husky sledding "with a team of gorgeous huskies."

If given additional parameters, ChatGPT

, so adding a preference for Thai food to the Whistler conversation caused the system to return new restaurant suggestions.

But ChatGPT has its limits.

First, your data base does not currently go beyond 2021 nor do you have access to important travel-related data that can change from moment to moment, such as

.

A dashboard shows canceled or delayed flights at New York's LaGuardia airport.

Photo EFE/EPA/SARAH YENESEL

New versions, including a recently released major update, are in development and are expected to continue to improve.

Also, software

on the Internet, so it can deliver answers that aren't true.

ChatGPT's maker, OpenAI, also warns that the software can occasionally provide "biased content."

Anyone can use the application, which is free and accessible through the OpenAI website.

can

ask ChatGPT to write marketing copy describing must-see places, and travel consultants can use it to write emails for their clients and create social media posts.

Airlines, hotels, and car rental companies can use it to help their virtual agents answer a wider variety of questions.

A "significant new step"

According to Chad Burt, co-chairman of OutsideAgents, a Jacksonville, Florida company that has 8,000 advisers in its network, some in the industry are concerned that as systems like ChatGPT improve, they could kill off adviser activity

But, Burt said, "the imminent demise of travel agencies has always been predicted and every new technology is a tool to be used."

The specialist recently gave a seminar on technology tips to his advisers and is compiling a list of pointers the team can use to get the most out of the software.

Burt, who has been experimenting with ChatGPT, has used it to

.

The result is a good starting point and "can save basic legwork," he said, "but a good agent still has to check the facts and improve it."

For example, 

can tell what each customer says they want from what they really want.

The software is "about 70 or 80%, but we're not aiming for 'pass,'" she observed.

Expedia, one of the world's largest online travel companies, has been using AI to personalize recommendations and schedule its online virtual advisor for years, but ChatGPT is a "significant new step," said Peter Kern, the company's chief executive.

Kern said his company is looking at the new technology as a possible way to offer customers a more familiar way to interact with Expedia, such as by saying or typing questions instead of pointing and clicking.

Expedia could also work with ChatGPT to better personalize recommendations

by combining your data with the two types of data the company tracks: customer purchase history and the latest prices and availability of airfare, hotel rooms, and rental cars.

Aylin Caliskan, a professor of computer science at the University of Washington who studies machine learning and how society influences artificial intelligence, predicts that other travel companies will follow suit, incorporating their own data and programming into generative AI systems such as that Google, Amazon and OpenAI are creating, to perform specific tasks.

According to her, the creation of these systems requires enormous investment, data and human labor, so it is more efficient to build on them, from them, whatever is necessary.

A travel insurance company, for example, could build a system using the natural language features of services like ChatGPT to help customers choose the most suitable policies or guide them through the claims process.

According to Caliskan, generative artificial intelligence could also

into other languages ​​and help travelers converse with locals.

And combined with virtual reality technology, it could also allow travel agencies to give customers a preview of a destination using virtual reality headsets.

Fear of an "AI dumpster"

Jeff Low, the CEO of Stash Hotels Rewards, a company that awards loyalty points to those who stay at a certain

, is alarmed at the effect that new AI services such as ChatGPT could have on the hospitality industry .

What will be the effect of AI in the different areas of the tourism sector.

Photo Shutterstock.

If one of the promises of artificial intelligence is to

so employees can connect personally with guests, "the reality is different," Low said.

, he added, for example by cutting front desk staff when automated check-in became popular.

"Interacting with people is an important part of traveling

," the executive said.

"And through those connections hotels can differentiate themselves."

appear as generative AI features are used by more travel providers

.

A slang response sounds authoritative, "so people believe it more than they should," Chad Burt said.

And since Google loves fresh content when it comes to ranking search results, companies looking to improve their Internet profile could start using programs similar to ChatGPT to write an increasing number of blog and network posts. social.

The Internet "could become an AI dump," Burt said.

But despite all the potential problems, an AI-powered future

for travelers: If ChatGPT or other generative systems access up-to-the-minute information,

, he said. Chekitan Dev, a professor at Cornell University's Nolan School of Hospitality Management.

Delayed flights.

Photo Samuel Corum/Bloomberg

If your flight is delayed

, for example, the system could postpone your car rental and send a message to the restaurant where you plan to dine that night to rebook for later.

So, will the future bring an autonomous vehicle that "knows" to pick you up at the airport when your plane is late, take you on a hike and end up in a place with the best plate of pad thai in

?

Or maybe AI and virtual reality engineers will one day come together to allow us a

that feels almost as real as a vacation and we never leave home.

"This is uncharted territory for all of us," Dev admitted.

The New York Times.

Special for Clarín

Translation: Roman Garcia Azcarate

look also

36 hours in Oslo

This destination will pay tourists who visit it