How ChatGPT and Generative AI Could Change the Way We Travel

Powerful new artificial intelligence software is already disrupting the travel industry, but it still has a long way to go before it can plan a trip smooth. For now.

One ​​day soon, in the AI-powered future, a vacation might start by telling your smartphone something like this: "I want to take a four-day trip to Los Angeles in June, when airfare and hotel rates are best, using loyalty points I want to visit a history museum and an amusement park - and then I would like 7 pm dinner reservations near the hotel at a restaurant with vegan options and a great wine list.” And your phone spits out the perfect itinerary.

But for now, travelers using ChatGPT – the powerful new A.I. software that already offers creative cocktail recipes and who writes academic papers - may need to temper their expectations.

Oded Battat, general manager of Traveland, a travel agency in Bridgeport, Conn., asked ChatGPT of outings he could offer his clients traveling to Tuscany to see if it would help him with his job.He got a list of 14 activities, including winery tours and museum visits, with a stop for an ice cream in the square of the medieval town of San Gimignano "I knew all these things," Mr Battat said, but, he added, ChatGPT saved him from having to collect all the information and delivered them in a format he was able to email to one of the clients.

ChatGPT, the service Battat started using, burst onto the scene in November, and it's already started shaking up tech-driven industries, including travel. Unlike the A.I. which is already familiar to most consumers - think of website chatbots - ChatGPT is "generative", which means that it can analyze or summarize the content of a large set of information, including web pages, books and other writings available on the Internet, and use this data to create new original content. Its advanced natural language capabilities also mean it understands and responds in a more conversational way.

The travel industry may no longer never the same. Already, travelers can "converse" with the system, share information such as destination, time of year and points of interest, and retrieve a personalized itinerary adorned with striking descriptions.

A recent request from a journalist for a two-day itinerary in Whistler, British Columbia gave ideas like snowshoeing with a guide who will show you the flora and local wildlife, and take a dog sled ride “with a team of beautiful huskies” for a winter trip. Given the additional settings, ChatGPT will update its suggestions, so adding a preference for Thai food to Whistler's conversation prompted the system to offer new restaurant suggestions.

But ChatGPT has limitations. First, its information base does not go beyond 2021 and it does not have access to important travel-related data that may change from moment to moment, such as airline schedules and forecasts. meteorological. New versions are in development, including a major update released this week, and should continue to improve. Also, the software does not always differentiate between trustworthy and untrustworthy information on the Internet, so it may come up with wrong answers. ChatGPT maker OpenAI also warns that the software can sometimes produce "biased content".

Anyone can use the software, which is free and accessible via the OpenAI that we... .