The do’s and don’ts of using AI to plan your trip

The generative AI revolution is underway, with these bots now taking care of everything from coding apps to making movies (or at least trying to). One way you sometimes see these AI chatbots used is as smart travel assistants, giving you recommendations on where to stay, eat, and tour just about any location you can name.

There’s no doubt that AI can be useful here in several ways, but it’s also important to remember the limitations of the technology. These chatbots have never visited the places they are talking about. They don’t know what good food is, or what a cozy retreat is. They just repeat text they found on the Internet (albeit in a clever and natural way). way).

When planning a trip, definitely enlist the help of a generative AI bot, but pay attention to the do’s and don’ts. I tested OpenAI ChatGPT and Google Gemini by asking them for recommendations on local cities near where I live (that I know better than they do), and I’ve added some comments below about what they did right and what they didn’t handled so well.

Use AI chatbots for complex questions

One area where AI chatbots have the advantage over a standard Google search is in complex searches. Ask about activities in a city for kids and on a certain budget, and an AI-generated answer will be much more accurate. You can specify hours, atmosphere, accessibility features, items on a menu, or whatever you want.

Please note that the answers you get are based on the information available on the Internet: ChatGPT has never been to New York, Venice or anywhere else. You’ll get more detailed answers about bigger, busier, and more popular places as more is written about them.

In the questions I asked about local places, the bots were usually spot on about the types of places worth a trip, and they do a good job of filtering through them (“what’s cheap?” for example, or “what’s kid-friendly ?”).If you need something more detailed than ‘top 10 tourist spots’ on a location, AI can be very useful.

Use AI chatbots for inspiration

You’ll find chatbots useful for getting answers to questions you’d ask someone: What’s the place like at night? What are the best times of year to go? What is a monument that can be visited in an afternoon? You won’t necessarily get good answers to these types of questions from a search engine.

This also applies to follow-up questions. You can ask about places that are similar to other places, or ask about the facilities at a particular location, or ask about places that are less popular with tourists. The chatbots I tested did well in recommended places that wouldn’t normally be included in trip listings.

These AI interfaces are also useful if you’re not sure where to start with your plans. For example, you can ask about cities or beaches you can see within a certain distance, or about new destinations that are similar to other destinations you are looking for. I’ve been there before. Moreover, these chabots have an almost inexhaustible set of suggestions from which they can draw.

Don’t trust everything you read

The Large Language Models (LLMs) on which generative AI chatbots are based are not copy machines. They’re designed to create new text based on the text they’ve been trained on, and while that means a lot of impressive creative output, it also means inaccuracies called hallucinations. These hallucinations are as common in responses to travel advisories as in any other AI task.

It is also clear that when LLMs do not have information to draw from, they will use generic language as a supplement. You’ll find that a lot of hotels are ‘comfortable’ and ‘cosy’, and a lot of pubs have a ‘traditional feel’, even if that’s not the case. I was told that one of the unhealthiest watering holes in my city had a “warm, inviting atmosphere” (and it’s “fun” too, apparently). I wouldn’t recommend a visit.

These mistakes are not common, but they do happen. Another mistake was when I was shown a photo of a local carpentry workshop instead of the museum I actually asked about. Just be a little wary of what you read, especially when it comes to definitive facts or language that sounds like it could apply anywhere.

Do not leave without carrying out checks

You should definitely only use AI chatbots as one of many trip planning tools: make sure you also visit listings on portals like Google Maps and TripAdvisor, and contact locations directly before you go. Of course, these sources aren’t always 100 percent accurate either, but they are more likely to be up-to-date and contain first-hand knowledge.

While planning travel in my area, I was told that a certain park had a playground for the kids and tennis courts, when that wasn’t the case – and you don’t want to show up with your kids in sports gear or rackets just to play. disappointed. This is the kind of information you can verify if you quickly browse Google Maps or Apple Maps. The same goes for hotel and flight prices: use AI as a guide rather than a definitive source.

There were also plenty of times when the AI ​​bots got it right, for example during the opening days of a local market, but you should always double-check. In general, the rules around AI and travel advice are the same as everywhere else: generative AI can be an impressively useful tool, but it’s not something you can rely on completely.