Winning In The Tech Era | 11 information (expected to be accomplished in the near future) − and the OTAs incorporate it into their systems, as well as consumer beginning to experiment with it, that will likely have a greater impact on the travel industry But at this point, any data provided by AI must be checked and verified by a knowledgeable human From the perspective of travel tech analyst Rose: “Often AI is viewed as a replacement for the travel counselor, but frankly, even with generative AI (eg, ChatGPT), AI is not fully intelligent to replace a great agent’s experience and knowledge Every effort should be made to explore how AI can improve the efficiency of the travel counselor” He further suggests how AI can be applied to assist travel advisors: “Technology is becoming faster, smarter with expanded capabilities Travel advisors need to use technology, particularly AI, to augment and improve the service provided to their travelers Why not have ChatGPT create a proposed itinerary for the client that a human can then augment and edit? “As it evolves,” he says, “I expect that much of the use of these tools will be strategic in how information is shared between advisor and customer in ways that will serve to enhance the entire vacation-planning and vacation- taking experience” Wiggins (who admittedly tends to be an early adopter and launches into new initiatives boldly with both feet), is currently participating in a pilot program in the travel ChatGPT space Of her experience so far, she conveys with much enthusiasm that she “love, love, loves it … and couldn’t be more enlightened, thrilled, and open to it It is absolutely a game-changer, and saves me time!” The pressing question on everyone’s minds has been whether this AI-powered tech will make travel advisors obsolete Currently, the tech has significant limitations, just one of which is that its database of information dates only up until December 2021; and its responses, though seemingly credible, can be completely wrong When ChatGPT is connected to the Internet providing real-time (continued from page 10)