The launch of ChatGPT 3.5 on November 30, 2022 dazzled users and captivated the tech world as it quickly became the fastest-growing consumer application of all time. After years of hype surrounding the potential of consumer-friendly artificial intelligence (AI), ChatGPT offered an extraordinary proof of concept that anyone could try. Following a series of high-profile AI chatbot failures and disappointments from other contenders, OpenAI’s ChatGPT was an exponential leap in the ability of AI to understand and create content accurately and impressively. 

Since that initial launch, a lot has happened. OpenAI has released the fourth iteration (v. 4.0) of the multimodal (i.e., accepting text and image input) large language model on which ChatGPT is based. Companies including Google and Microsoft (the latter being a major OpenAI partner and investor) have launched competitive and complementary products. In February 2023 Microsoft released a new version of its Bing search engine that includes chat based on GPT-4, effectively turning it into an AI-powered real-time search engine connected to the internet with a conversational interface. Microsoft also launched a separate chat offering called Bing Chat which has the ability to browse the internet. In March 2023 Google launched its own chatbot, Bard, built on a version of the company’s own large language model LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications). Thus far, ChatGPT appears to be the most accurate of the mainstream offerings. 

New competition continues to emerge. In February 2023 Meta announced its own large language model, LLaMA (which was subsequently leaked online), and in April Amazon launched Bedrock, a tool that lets software developers build and scale AI applications. Apple has been relatively quiet, but as the creator of Siri, you can bet they’re not sitting still. Meanwhile, a plethora of smaller competitors have stepped into the spotlight as well. 

AI already serves our daily lives in everything from personalized recommendations to search engines, online advertising and navigation, albeit in ways that may not be obvious to end users. However, generative AI’s ability to converse in natural language and create original content in both text and multimedia form opens a vast new world of possibilities. This article surveys potential applications of generative AI through each stage of the travel cycle, from inspiration to booking and sharing, as well as promising uses in business operations. 

The full report gives an in-depth analysis into each of the stages of travel. Get the report here.

Inspiration 

Planning 

Shopping/Booking 

• Travel search/booking engines
• New intermediaries?

The full report gives a real-world example of a long conversation with Generative AI.

Experiencing 

• Digital concierges
• Autonomous vehicles

Sharing 

• AI-enhanced content
• Personalized storytelling

Marketing and Sales  

• Advertising, Discoverability and the new SEO
• Generating and optimizing copy
• Sentiment analysis

Customer Service 

• Guest communication
• Agent productivity

Other Use Cases

• Optimization of backend processes
• Business travel
• New distribution capability (NDC) meets AI