How ChatGPT and Generative AI Could Change the Way We Travel

A “significant new step”

Some in the industry worry that as systems like ChatGPT improve, they could put travel advisers out of business, said Chad Burt, co-chairman of OutsideAgents, a Jacksonville, Fla. company with 8,000 advisers. in his network. But, he said, “the impending demise of travel agents has always been predicted, and every new technology is a tool to be used.” He recently gave a technical advice seminar to his advisors and is compiling a list of prompts his advisors can use to get the most out of the software.

Mr. Burt, who has experimented with ChatGPT, has used it to create over 100 routes. The result is a great starting point and “can save some basic legwork”, he said, “but a good agent still needs to fact check and improve on it”. For example, he explained, only a human can sort out what travelers say they want versus what they really want. The software gets “70 or 80 percent – but we’re not aiming for a C grade,” he said.

Expedia, one of the world’s largest online travel agencies, has used AI for years to personalize recommendations and schedule its online virtual advisor, but ChatGPT is a “significant new step,” said Peter Kern, CEO of Expedia.

His company sees new technology as a possible way to give customers a more conversational way to interact with Expedia, Mr. Kern said, for example, by speaking or typing questions instead of pointing and clicking. Expedia could also work with ChatGPT to better personalize recommendations by combining its data with the two types of data its company tracks: customer purchase history and the most recent prices and availability of airfares, rooms, and more. hotels and rental cars.

Aylin Caliskan, a University of Washington computer science professor who studies machine learning and how society affects artificial intelligence, predicts other travel companies will follow suit, adding their own data and programming to systems. generative AIs like those created by Google, Amazon and OpenAI, to accomplish specific tasks.