How many times can one travel planner AI send you to the Sky Tower? Very many. Photo / Michael Craig
Greg Bruce is a senior multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald who has reported extensively from the front lines of the generative AI revolution.
OPINION
A few weeks ago, I received an email about
the launch of Booking.com’s AI Trip Planner, which was described as “a new conversational experience to help improve the holiday planning experience for Kiwi travellers”.
As someone who has been an early and enthusiastic adopter of AI, and believes it is basically magic, I had high hopes for this app. So it was with some sadness and disappointment that I read its response to my request for a three-day itinerary for my home city.
It read less like the product of one of humanity’s greatest technological achievements and more like the half-assed thoughts of an American tourist who came here once, 20 years ago, and spent most of their time in their hotel…
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