Expedia Launches New ChatGPT Feature To Help Users Plan Trips

Expedia has launched a “generative” artificial intelligence technology that is becoming popular among industries. Now, travelers can have a personal travel guide when booking with Expedia.

Earlier this week, the trip planning website introduced an AI-based tool on its mobile app that helps users plan trips and find out information about their destination, CBS News reported.

“Basically the idea is just to give travelers, however, they want to shop, the best ways to plan, the best ways to shop, the best ways to find the right thing for them,” Expedia Group CEO and vice chairman Peter Kern told CBS News.

“You can ask [the chatbot] whether April is a good time to go to Paris or what you might see in Tokyo if you go in March — and can you see the cherry blossoms,” he added. 

Users can ask a number of questions to the chatbot, such as, “Help me find a hotel near the best place to see the cherry blossoms.” 

Expedia already has features that already use Al and ChatGPT, including price tracking and collaborative shopping. “So it’s not a decision to redeploy assets to spend on doing this, it’s really a decision to make it easy for travelers.”

Expedia has also taken necessary measures to make sure ChatGPT doesn’t give incorrect information by applying guard rails on its chatbot to prevent the AI from veering beyond travel-related topics. 

“We built our own AI to basically monitor the outcomes for what ChatGPT comes back with because, really, we only want to help people shop for travel,” Kern said. “We’re not trying to talk to them about politics or religion or anything else. So this isn’t to go have a chatGPT conversation.”

“We are really using our own capabilities to monitor the outcomes, make sure travelers don’t get strange responses. And if something goes wrong, we’re trying to make sure it comes back to travel.”

Expedia’s AI tool remains in the testing phase while the company works out some kinks, like questions regarding roundtrip flight options. But so far, the feature was able to list the top attractions in Mexico’s capital city.