Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a controversial topic lately. Those in the know are butting heads with each other stating conflicting arguments on the dangers and benefits of rapid AI development.
Tech gurus have pleaded their case to pump the brakes on developing AI until further long-term ramifications are understood.
The advancement has far exceeded expectations in its current capabilities, so many leaders in this field are questioning the direction of the technology.
Good or bad, Expedia is charging forward with possibly the first major step to change travel forever.
The gargantuan travel brand has just integrated the popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT, into their app to help travelers build their itineraries.
Artificial Intelligence And Travel
Expedia’s integration of ChatGPT is not the first AI tool to assist travelers. In fact, Expedia has already included various AI methods that travel shoppers use every day.
AI, as well as machine learning, are already being used in searches for hotel comparisons, airfare tracking, and other vacation-related algorithms on the Expedia website and app.
When unexpected changes come up, Expedia has been using a popular feature on its website.
The Virtual Agent feature, powered by AI, helps travelers solve problems with their bookings 24/7.
Implementing the new ChatGPT feature will further help travelers build their trip in a quicker, more efficient way.
“Every great trip can be made or lost while planning and shopping. As the leader in travel tech, Expedia continues to build out the core operating system for the industry, constantly enhancing capabilities and making trip planning faster, simpler and even more informative. By integrating ChatGPT into the Expedia app and combining it with our other AI-based shopping capabilities, like hotel comparison, price tracking for flights and trip collaboration tools, we can now offer travelers an even more intuitive way to build their perfect trip.” – Peter Kern, Vice Chairman and CEO, Expedia Group.
What is interesting about the timing of Expedia’s choice to use ChatGPT is there have been subpar results by using the chatbot independently.
Presumably, this test was run through ChatGPT 3.5. Perhaps the latest version, ChatGPT 4, has fixed the bugs.
Travelers should know ChatGPT is not specifically designed to assist in travel, although Expedia seems to believe it will be extremely helpful to their members.
However, there are alternatives to using AI as an assistant for travel needs. One option is GuideGeek, which launched recently and was built for the sole purpose of aiding travelers.
It’s free to use and backed by travel experts through the Matador Network. It will be interesting to see how it compares to Expedia’s latest assistant.
How To Effectively Use ChatGPT Through Expedia
Members of Expedia can already take advantage of these modern new features to organize their trip plans.
The best way to use this AI tool is to simply start a conversation with ChatGPT on Expedia’s app.
What users can expect is detailed recommendations of the typical questions travelers may have:
- “Where should I go?”
- “Where should I stay?”
- “What is the best way to get around?”
- “Where should I eat?”
- “What is there to see?”
- “What is there to do here?”
While this is just a beta launch, the chatbot is considered to be an ‘intelligent shopper’ and should be able to thoroughly answer these types of questions with ease.
Since this is the first step, the collaboration with ChatGPT will most likely encounter some errors to be determined.
The good news is that these errors will be reported, so further development of the technology will improve efficiency as time goes on.
Feedback from both travel shoppers and Expedia employees will continue to help the growth of this innovation.
This edition will only be available in English, but it is available around the world simply by downloading Expedia’s app.
Expedia has also assembled a plug-in feature so that users can initiate a chat on ChatGPT’s website and be directed to Expedia to finalize their trip.
