A new type of tourist travel has appeared in Russia: radical differences

More than a third of Russians are ready to buy tours generated by a neural network, as well as create them themselves, so that the tour operator does not “count” too much for them – this was shown by a survey of the tourism industry. Some agents selling tours for the May holidays and summer have already encountered the fruits of the help of artificial intelligence.

“A client is calling here,” says Alena, an employee of a capital travel agency selling tours to Latin America. – She says that the aggregator is selling her a tour to Latin America for the May holidays at exorbitant prices – it turns out to be more than $3,000 for 10 days, and she knows that the same thing is possible for $500. Like, only for our own people, probably.

Alena asked the caller what kind of travel agency dumps like that?! After all, just one flight to the American continent costs so much! It turned out that the lady was advised to “cross-check greedy tour sellers” using AI, which she did. And I received a 10-day tour with accommodation in Medellin.

“She doesn’t even know where Medellin is, but she bombarded me with screenshots of this tour generated by the neural network. It says you’ll spend 10 days in a “modest but nice” hotel in Medellin, the City of Eternal Spring, in the orchid region of Commune 13, and from there visit the city of Cali. It sounds beautiful, it’s really spring all year round, orchids bloom, but these are favelas – slums, they are also Escobar’s criminal enclave, the cheapest place to live in all of Latin America, since normal people are afraid to go there. And this year, Colombian Cali once again entered the top 10 most dangerous cities in the world. Even taxi drivers don’t go there.

Fortunately, during the discussion of the near future, in which neural networks will take over the formation of package tours, it was neural network experts who were the first to express doubts, saying that AI is not yet able to replace experts in the tourism industry.

“The neural network answers a clearly posed question,” says Andrey, a developer of “assistants” with artificial intelligence for travel agencies. – The client apparently asked where she could go in Latin America for $500, to which she received a truthful answer. She wasn’t interested in how safe it was there. What about AI, many people behave this way: you didn’t ask. If you want to use a neural network, first learn to give it competent technical specifications. Put your budget, time, wishes there, otherwise you will get rubbish.

Experts emphasize that AI processes large amounts of information more efficiently than the real mind, but without additional “guidance” it reveals extreme “narrowness of thinking.”

I’m trying to get a package tour from the neural network for the May holidays, for five days within $1000, not hot or cold, beautiful, safe, with inexpensive accommodation – and I get a “ticket” to the Austrian Alps. Well, AI doesn’t absorb the news of the day like other natural minds, and perhaps that’s even for the better.

I double my bet on Latin America – and for $1000 I get advice to visit the Ecuadorian equator and hike to the local Cotopasi volcano, spending the night in a tent. After the second attempt to meet this budget on the American continent, the neural network kindly transfers me to the website of shelters for homeless people and safe shelters “for victims of drug cartels.”

Regarding domestic tourism, when asked “plan me an inexpensive tour around the country,” the AI ​​recommends that I go around Russia by train, “it’s not expensive and you definitely won’t get lost.” At this point, I’m curious, am I the only one with my requests that gives the AI ​​the impression of not only a beggar, but also an idiot, or does it have other victims? Runet consoles us that there is. A good friend has already recommended to some fans of “calling a friend” in the person of an AI chatbot to travel around the Russian Federation by horse-drawn carriage, as this is “the best way to experience its beauty and roads.” You should explore Moscow only by bicycle, otherwise you will spend your entire vacation in traffic jams. And the only thing that can make you feel that your vacation is luxurious is black caviar in a cramped train compartment traveling to Vorkuta for a week.

In general, the AI ​​still needs to work on itself and work, it lacks the Russian soul.