ROMULUS, Mich. (WXYZ) — As millions of people take trips for spring break, some are now using artificial intelligence to ease the stress of travel planning. 7 News Detroit spoke with travel and technology experts about the good and bad of using the technology for trips.
When it comes to booking a flight or hotel, travelers at Detroit Metro Airport have their go-to methods.
"This time, we went to Kayak just to make sure because it was a last-minute trip," said Emily Larson, a traveler at DTW.
"We go to Google flights and then just usually go to the Delta website but for lodging, I really like to be strategic," said Cheryl Summers, a traveler at DTW.
Now, another tool is entering the conversation: AI travel planning.
"You do a Google search now and you get results based on AI input. So, it's being integrated with everything we do," said Garrett Sexton, a traveler at DTW.
Tijuana Smith-Brown is a travel consultant and owner of Ascend Beyond Travel in Redford. She says websites like Trip Advisor or Booking.com have incorporated elements of AI, which can be beneficial.
"You pretty much put in your dates, where you want to go, where you're traveling from and it quickly gives you an itinerary," Smith-Brown said.
While the technology can be helpful, Smith-Brown said it's still capable of making mistakes.
"They don't know the nuance as far as complexity when you're doing a stop-off. Or you have two or three locations that you're trying to visit in one shot, they can't do that," Smith-Brown said.
There's also an element of human emotion that AI can't replicate.
"Something may be happening and it's very stressful. AI is not going to provide them that emotional support," Smith-Brown said.
Joe Tavares, an AI expert with Resolute Building Intelligence in Troy, says search engines and websites that use AI help can help find deals.
"It's not necessarily like ChatGPT, but they do analytics and they're able to get the best pricing based on different time periods and they're able to do quick and competitive analysis to see what the other airlines are charging," Tavares said.
We also sat down with Tavares to see if ChatGPT could help plan a trip to Fiji when prompted and he was pretty satisfied with the results but said there's still room for improvement.
"It's got seasonal pricing... these are some of the same things I'd expect a travel agent to do, but again, it doesn't have that nuance," Tavares said.
Travelers 7 News Detroit spoke to said although they aren't using AI for trips now, they're open to using the tech in the future.
"I might've had some reservations about it in the past but sometimes, you can't fight it and have to learn how to use it," Sexton said.
