Expedia Lets Travelers Plan Trips Using ChatGPT

Would you let artificial intelligence (AI) plan your next vacation?

Expedia wants to give customers a chance to do just that.

The travel website announced in a Tuesday (April 4) press release that it has launched an “in-app travel planning experience” powered by ChatGPT, OpenAI’s generative AI tool.

“Expedia members can now start an open-ended conversation in the Expedia app and get recommendations on places to go, where to stay, how to get around, and what to see and do based on the chat,” the company said in the release.

Beyond that, the offering also “brings in intelligent shopping by automatically saving hotels discussed in the conversation to a ‘trip’ in the app,” Expedia said in the release, thus helping customers organize and plan their vacations.

Expedia has also recently added a plugin for ChatGPT that lets travelers start a conversation directly on the ChatGPT site and bring up the Expedia plugin to begin planning a trip, the release stated. Once they’re ready to book, customers can go straight to Expedia.

“With today’s news, conversational trip planning powered by ChatGPT is directly in the Expedia app, allowing members to now get the benefit of dreaming about travel in the app experience,” the company said in the release. “It’s also easier for members to access exclusive discounts and rewards for their trip.”

Expedia is rolling out this tool — now in beta — at a time when the world is debating the threat and the promise of AI tools.

Last week saw the nonprofit The Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP) ask the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate OpenAI and put a halt to its development of large language models for commercial use.

“The Federal Trade Commission has declared that the use of AI should be ‘transparent, explainable, fair, and empirically sound while fostering accountability,’” CAIDP said in its complaint. “OpenAI’s product GPT-4 satisfies none of these requirements. It is time for the FTC to act.”

Meanwhile, chief financial officers tell PYMNTS the technology is enhancing but not erasing a number of traditional responsibilities.

Finance roles in companies are “evolving,” James Ritter, finance chief at automation firm ABBYY, told PYMNTS, as the integration of modern tools simultaneously enhances skillsets and changes how employees engage with information and activate information.