Growth GPT
Individualism in the responses depending on who's asking the question, the next level
(Source: gifsforyounow.com)
In the old days, searching for vacations meant browsing through glossy brochures. The internet made it easier, but soon enough it became a jungle to navigate through, even as search engines sped it up, as the results became fuzzy again when they started to be promoted by googly adtech.
It’s an ongoing quest and zest. For ChatGPT, too.
A lot of news has been released around the use of ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot launched last fall by OpenAI. Whether it’s for improving chatbots for customers, or using it for a search-for-content function including answering complex questions, the number of companies in travel and elsewhere that use the ChatGPT plugin was like a blizzard coming in.
Now, you can get the latest responses direct from the web with the help of ChatGPT plugins. It is also programmed to book your tickets, order food, book a table in your favorite restaurant, and much more.
In the USA, 11.72% of all people online use it; India’s number two (10.7%). In total, over 1.7 billion people (and counting) are using this jazzy tool, yet this excludes China and Russia who cannot.
So, 53% of the people do not recognize that AI wrote the text.
And, funny enough, that’s indirectly an indication of its limitation and what is likely to be next. You should be able to see that AI wrote it, due to the next level that is coming up.
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Soul Searching
ChatGPT currently serves up answers to question and this is continuously improved using supervised and reinforcement learning in line with a reward model. But it is drumming up the same answers regardless of who is asking.
ChatGPT is not investigating in what context the question is asked, or who is asking the question, nor whether its responses can be tested for being truthful.
So, is that the next step, and why is it relevant for travel?
Well, in travel, there are a lot more emotions going on that seeking the response to an informational or quizz-like question. Travel is not about purely search.
Travel is about finding a match. A match to a very personal quest.
So the answers should very much depend on what this personal quest entails, much more than a few descriptive words, like “adventure”, “sun”, “South”, “temples”, “landmarks” or “Asia”.
The preferences of somebody looking at new leisure activities or adventurous vacations will very much depend on:
Past vacation experiences
Images stored in their minds based on previous vacations
Images imprinted in their minds based on online/tv impressions
Emotions associated with sounds or pictures
Their budgets and planned budget allocations
The complexity in itineraries or logistics involved
Preselected or preferred brands
Input from customer reviews on social media
And so forth.
It is perhaps something that Booking.com is working toward with their planned recreation of a human travel agent customers can interact with. This would be combined with slightly more intrusive tech to sift through more background and personal context, with permission.
Some argue that Airbnb will use ChatGPT to make search for unique and personalized shot rental results even better, but the company itself says it wants to focus on the hosting and content itself.
But many are in an experimental stage, like eDreams, and Trip.com.
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While we can democratize AI, as OpenAI has done, the actual sophisticated application requires more layers, including those related to fact-checking as well as upholding the high standards of privacy.
It is likely we will need metrics that score how accurate the responses are.
ChatGPT and similar technology will soon face regulation. Imagine all the medical queries and disastrous results if people blindly follow ‘medical advice’.
Further, ChatGPT is only as good as the date it is fed, and that’s where individual companies can make a difference as well, i.e. by leveraging their unique data hubs or data sets from a lifetime of enterprise data (some of which can possibly be digitized when it’s not electronic, yet).
Ultimately, even when new tech makes features look commoditized, there is a renewed innovation push necessary to provide additional value.
That value will come from making sure that providing different answers depending on who is asking the question.
To some extent, that is what HomeToGo is attempting with its “AI Mode”, by providing personalized recommendations by describing in more detail what somebody is looking for in words.
So, it is standard to receive text inputs, but we’ll quickly move to voice or spoken input and the possibility to correct ourselves, change our minds, or ask for complex comparisons of experiences.
Search can be very unique, and the technology should not only provide feedback in what other people have put in the search bar. That individualism to be creative and reflect your identity, will be incorporated soon.
[to be continued]
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The reason there is a part II to the article is related to recent work I like to incorporate, and the fact that I’m speaking at the Aviation Festival Americas in Miami today (16 May). And, I need to prepare for that, too.
Wishing you all a wonderful day, and greetings from artsy Miami.
Ricardo
Montreal, Tuesday, 15 May 2023
Feel free to contact me for questions, comments, or a chat:
ricardo(at)pomonaadvisors(dot)com
my general email has changed to: info(at)ricardopilon(dot)com