Recently, I had to take a last-minute trip to help a family member out after a difficult surgery. Don't worry, everything turned out fine (better than fine—it turned into that wonderful trip to Yellowstone I mentioned above)! But normally, I'm an obsessive trip planner. I spend hours searching for the best plane tickets and hotels. Once, I even went frame by frame on Google Maps trying to figure out how I would navigate my rental car out of Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.
But this time, I didn't have that luxury. I had to get a plan in place, quick. So I turned to AI for help. I won't bore you with all the details of my stay in Billings, but I was pleasantly surprised by the results! My AI assistant found a great Airbnb, a convenient flight, and recommended several restaurants all close to the Airbnb and the hospital. I even asked it to find the cheapest gas for me when I had to return my rental car!
Here's why you'll love using AI to plan your next trip:
- Learn how to plan a trip via a single prompt that covers all the bases.
- Plan a trip you don't know much about by having your AI assistant ask the important questions and give you options.
- Ask for sources so you can easily double-check everything before booking.
To read the rest of the how-to and learn how to craft the best possible prompt to make AI your perfect travel agent, click here.
Image: ChatGPT telling on itself
Yes, that is how computers work, ChatGPT. No wonder she seems so confused; she's looking at the wrong side of the screen! (Also, is it just me, or is it a little psychopathic to write on a sticky note sticky-side down?)
I'm a big proponent of smart AI usage. I have a lot of reservations about when it's appropriate to use AI, and I especially encourage everyone who uses it to be vigilant about checking AI's sources and verifying that your AI assistant isn't having one of its all-too-common hallucinations. Last time, I asked you for stories about when AI hallucinations have come for you. Here's what you said (edited for clarity and brevity):
I asked Microsoft Copilot if there was a way to record TV shows and remove the commercials. It suggested a fabulous hardware and software setup. The total price was $470. I then described the setup to ChatGPT and Perplexity. They warned it wouldn't work. Copilot insisted it would. So I made the purchase. Sure enough, I set it up and all I got was a black, blocked signal. After packing it all up and sending it back, I told Copilot what had happened. Copilot answered back, "my bad."
-Sue F.
I'm glad Sue was cautious enough to plan for Copilot's seemingly inevitable downfall! But this is another way AI can be uncannily human-like: It doesn't want to admit when it's wrong, either. But its mistakes can cost you, so if you're ever planning on forking out a chunk of change on AI's advice, follow Sue's example and prepare for what to do if the recommendations you took turn out to be all wrong.
