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Spending long hours in front of a computer screen trying to plan vacations could soon become a thing of the past.
The travel industry has enthusiastically embraced generative AI in recent years. Expedia, for example, integrated a ChatGPT-powered customer service chatbot into its app in early 2023. Kayak did something similar one year later, launching an AI platform trained on customer data and designed to provide personalized, real-time travel recommendations.
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Now, an up-and-coming player in the industry is aiming to take things one step further, using AI to automate every step of the trip-planning process, from brainstorming to booking, for free.
Launched in public beta in December, Airial Travel positions itself as an automated travel agent that helps users customize and plan travel itineraries based on their interests.
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Airial was founded by former engineers from Google, Meta, and Waymo, and leverages its proprietary AI model. The company has reportedly raised $3 million in seed funding.
However, Airial doesn't have the market for end-to-end travel planning cornered because platforms like Mindtrip and Layla offer similar services.
How does it work?
Airial's platform allows users to describe their travel goals using natural language. Like other AI chatbots, the more specific your prompts, the easier it'll be for the system to recommend something useful and tailored to your tastes. But you can also start broad, and the tool will help you narrow down your preferences.
For example, you might provide Airial's AI assistant with the following description of your vague ambitions to travel this fall: "I'm taking two weeks off of work in October, and want to travel somewhere warm, and not too expensive. Maybe somewhere in the Mediterranean region or in the Caribbean. I also don't want to be surrounded by too many tourists. Somewhere highly walkable would be ideal, too."
It'll then attempt to gain a better understanding of your interests, providing you with a few options to choose from, like "Beach relaxation" and "Cultural experiences." You can also specify any specific activities you'd like to partake in while traveling.
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From there, Airial will provide a rough outline of an itinerary. (In response to the prompts outlined above, the bot suggested a three-city excursion across Italy and Croatia.) The platform also allows you to adjust for preferences like dietary restrictions, hotel star rating, and flight accommodations.
The chatbot also includes an "Instant Plan" option, which can be toggled on at the beginning of the conversation. This option will cause the chatbot to skip any follow-up questions to provide you with a suggested itinerary immediately.
To add an extra spark of motivation, the platform connects you with TikTok videos filmed in locations that are relevant to the details provided by your prompts.
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Aerial collects user data to customize travel itineraries, according to the company's terms of service page.
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