AI, in general, promises many new features and because the technology is still relatively new, it can sometimes make mistakes. We’ve seen somewhat shocking and sometimes funny answers from AI, such as telling users they’re allowed to eat one small rock a day, to making up figures and sources where it deemed appropriate.
Yet in many respects the tech is also very useful. It can help you break down tasks, point you in the right direction for research, or even generate headshots for you to look more professional. You might also use it to plan your travels.
However, sometimes this isn’t as helpful as you’d like. There can be various pitfalls in relying on AI wholeheartedly to plan your next vacation. In this post, we’ll discuss a few measures you can use to avoid such mistakes. Keep the following in mind:
Reviews Are AI-Generated
A glowing review doesn’t always mean someone went there, experienced the full service, ate the food, and left so happy they had to share it online. That’s because a good number of five-star blurbs aren’t coming from people at all, but are now written by bots, sometimes just to pad a listing, make it look more appealing, push it higher in rankings or keep up with competitors who are doing the same thing.
The tone usually gives it away if you’re paying attention, as i’ll sound a little too polished or vague, like someone said all the right copywriting markers without saying anything specific. You get phrases like “wonderful atmosphere” and “great service” repeated over and over without a single mention of what was actually ordered or what the place looked like. Some of these reviews even copy each other word for word across different cities, or perhaps the structure is similar, especially if each one immediately starts wit the qualifier “I didn’t know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised” – or a variation of that. Read a review and see if it’s imperfect but human, that’s usually a good sign.
Not All Information Is Up To Date
AI pulls from what it’s already seen, and that pool doesn’t always include the latest updates. So even if you ask for something like opening hours or the best way to get from one station to another, it might be giving you info that was accurate three years ago but is completely wrong today, and of course, that could affect your trip. If you’re looking for luggage storage in Prague, for instance, it’s best to check specific services that offer it.
It’s the kind of thing that won’t seem like a big deal until you’re standing outside a locked door in the rain, wondering why Google says it should be open. AI tech isn’t quite there to give you immediate updates yet, at least not in all circumstances.
Not All Reference Promotions Will Be The Best
You might ask an AI for a hotel recommendation and it’ll give you a list of highly rated options, which sounds useful until you see those results came from a generic pool of partner listings or old data scraped from big booking sites. They’re fine, they’ll get the job done, but they’re probably not the hidden gem down the street that’s run by someone who actually lives there or the place that’s half the price if you book direct.
There’s nothing wrong with using AI for a starting point, but sometimes it helps to dig past the first five results, especially if you want something with a little more character or better value. It’s fun to dig around and see what you can find (half the pleasure from travel comes from exploration after all), so don’t be afraid to opt for those minor options.
AI Will Generally Give You The Popular Opinion, Not The One Right For You
This one’s a touch tricky, because AI sounds confident even when it’s wrong. If you ask for the best museum or the top-rated beach or where to stay in a certain city, you’ll get something that looks like a clear answer, but it’s usually based on what shows up the most, not what you’d actually enjoy. If you hate crowds or want to avoid tourist-heavy areas, AI isn’t always going to factor that in unless you tell it upfront, and even then it might still push the safest, most obvious pick so you can’t accuse it of being incorrect or not accounting for what most of its userbase would appreciate. This can sometimes give you a flattened experience where you would have had a better time on a local resident or travel forum.
With this advice, we hope you can moer easily remain mindful of AI content even if using it, in small ways, to help your travels.
