German tour operator TUI has started using ChatGPT in its app to provide vacation recommendations. Initially, the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is being piloted in the TUI app for UK customers. The company announced this on Thursday.

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“What originally started as an experiment by TUI’s software developers and app product teams has now been launched as a pilot on TUI’s UK app,” he says. in the TUI press release. ChatGPT is intended to provide TUI customers with answers about holiday destinations and personalized recommendations for excursions, activities and tickets to attractions. “Based on how customers describe in detail the type of experience they want, for example, culinary discovery tours, adventure excursions or museum visits, the app provides a refined and relevant selection list with descriptions, images and links through of ChatGPT”, promises the company. Experiences can be booked directly through the mobile app.

“ChatGPT shows how, thanks to technology, we can simplify processes and services for customers or make information more easily available,” said Sebastian Ebel, CEO of TUI Group. The company’s goal is to be a leader in the use of new technologies.

The use of AI will be expanded

Since the success of ChatGPT by Microsoft’s subsidiary OpenAI, there has been a bit of enthusiasm for the use of AI. Rapidly improving artificial intelligence technology can produce understandable speech and even photos and videos by processing and synthesizing vast amounts of data. Therefore, more and more companies rely on the use of AI. Online retailer Amazon uses AI for its product reviews.

TUI has established an in-house TUI AI Lab (AI stands for Artificial Intelligence), an open platform for all employees to offer testing support and organize AI training. TUI has rolled out the AI ​​chat feature in its app to half of UK app users, with the aim of rolling it out to all “in the coming weeks”, a TUI spokesperson said. to the British newspaper The Guardian.

risk to jobs

The prospect of generative AI chatbots that can sift through vast amounts of data in seconds has prompted forecasts against job cuts, the newspaper writes, as human labor would become too expensive. TUI employed 61,000 people at the end of September. According to The Guardian, the company has already cut thousands of jobs during the coronavirus pandemic.

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However, the use of generative AI will not replace humans, says TUI. A spokesperson pointed out to The Guardian an example of call center workers in the Netherlands using ChatGPT to look up information more quickly, reducing phone wait times.

“Generative AI is rapidly replacing tasks, but not jobs,” Pieter Jordaan, a member of the TUI Group Executive Committee and Chief Information Officer, said in an interview with German media. “We see it being used in addition to existing jobs. However, people using generative AI will be far superior to people without the help of generative AI.”

The test underscores the “experimental” nature of the AI ​​chatbot

According to The Guardian, a test of TUI’s AI assistant showed that it was still “experimental”. Consequently, the bot had a hard time with a simple conversation. It was able to process a request for “best travel destinations in France”, offering Paris, Nice, Bordeaux, Lyon and the French Alps as options (along with three links to TUI Travel) and for the requested user’s preferred city. However, then he could not understand “paris” or “Paris”. According to the newspaper, the chatbot pleaded for leniency: “I apologize for the confusion, but I am an AI travel assistant and I have no personal preferences,” he said.

It wasn’t until The Guardian changed the response to “I’m interested in Paris” that the app was finally able to understand the text and make recommendations, though hardly for off-the-beaten-path attractions, the newspaper complains. The tips were to visit the Louvre, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower, three of the most visited sites in the world. However, the company points out that it is a pilot project. Feedback is continuously collected “to ensure TUI’s high standards”. In addition, measures have been taken to restrict inappropriate responses.

Several pilot projects for the use of generative AI tools are currently running, TUI explained. “For example, technology is used at TUI to improve communication with customers after their holidays, to make knowledge databases easier and faster to search to support call center teams or to translate content into different languages. The company tries to allay data protection concerns: “By using ChatGPT in the TUI app, customer data is never transmitted.”

(ak)