The year ends with a number of generative AI updates from OpenAI, Google, and Meta. This marks a big end to a year of major advances in the relationship between new technology and travel.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said earlier this year that the company’s goal is to be a “universal agent for everyday life.” OpenAI has a similar vision, and Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil said it could become a reality as early as next year.
AI companies are making considerable progress toward this 2024 vision, but there may be technical hiccups.
Despite some big acquisitions and record startup funding elsewhere, advances in AI have been the most important topic for travel technology and the future of the industry this year.
The long-term vision for the travel space is to enable AI assistants that can not only search and book trips for users, but also act as guides and translators during their trips, remembering details and preferences for future trips. That’s it.
Below, we look back at AI advances in 2024 and give a little insight into what to expect in 2025.
Real-time search
One of the biggest criticisms of OpenAI when it was first released was its inability to provide real-time information.
Since we released SearchGPT in late October, that’s no longer the case. This tool allows the ChatGPT chatbot to search the internet and provide results about flights, restaurants, events, and more. Search results include driving directions on a map and links to websites, as shown in a Skift test that shows how the tool works when planning a trip in London A pin may appear.
Google has already introduced an AI-generated summary above traditional search results, called AI Overview, that can generate itineraries with flight and hotel options.
And although Google hasn’t confirmed it, a new report says the company plans to integrate the Gemini chatbot directly into its traditional search platform. This gives users the choice of completing their searches the traditional way or using Gemini.
As of mid-December, Gemini is now available as a mobile app for iPhone and Android.
AI with eyes, ears, and voice
ChatGPT, Gemini, and Meta AI have all taken steps this year to make their platforms even more useful as real-time travel guides.
One of the latest updates to OpenAI’s ChatGPT is Advanced Voice with Video. This essentially allows users to make video calls with the AI. It can remember details about what you see, such as people’s attributes. Skift hasn’t tested this on walking around a city, but the idea is to be able to recognize landmarks and other visual cues and provide information about them.
You can now chat in real time with video and audio using ChatGPT. pic.twitter.com/6LySLJcFy5
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) December 12, 2024
ChatGTP added Advanced Voice mode in September. It attracted a lot of attention due to its advanced voice translation function. This can be especially helpful for travelers staying in a destination where they don’t speak the language.
OpenAI also recently announced that Advanced Voice can now complete web searches in real time. This means users can ask the voicebot about events happening this weekend, or about restaurant suggestions or the current weather.
Earlier this year, Google demoed a video chat feature similar to what OpenAI just released.
And Meta this year demonstrated voice translation, visual translation, and travel guide capabilities through Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
ChatGPT, Gemini, and Meta AI have all shown that they can translate text from images, such as menus.
autonomous computer use
Anthropic, a generative AI startup and OpenAI competitor, was the first to demonstrate technology that could control a computer on your behalf.
The purpose of this feature is to complete tasks by “looking at the screen, moving the cursor, clicking buttons, and typing text.” The company used the travel example during three demonstrations of the technology in October.
In mid-December, Google released a preview of a similar tool being developed as a Chrome browser extension.
What does the future of human-agent interaction look like in the browser?
Project Mariner is a research prototype built with Gemini 2.0 that allows you to explore information and perform tasks as directed through an experimental Chrome extension.
Please see the actual operation ↓ pic.twitter.com/HkJ54hOpxk
— Google DeepMind (@GoogleDeepMind) December 11, 2024
Although not confirmed by OpenAI, reports in November said the company plans to release a similar tool in January that can control computers and complete tasks such as booking travel.
The technology could be especially useful for busy business travelers, who could theoretically tell computers to search for and book business trips on their behalf, but it will take a while to get to that point.
Travel advertising on a generative AI platform
Generative AI startup Perplexity first announced it was experimenting with advertising on its platform.
Perplexity announced in November that its first ad buyers were Whole Foods Market, Universal McCann and PMG. For example, when a user completes a grocery-related search, Whole Foods sponsored content appears alongside regular search results.
You won’t see ads for travel-related questions yet. However, if you look at the company’s pitch deck, you’ll see that travel is the advertising target.
There were questions about how OpenAI and Google plan to sell ChatGPT and Gemini ads to travel companies. This is a particularly relevant question for Google, which makes billions of dollars each year in traditional search advertising from Booking and Expedia.
Meanwhile, travel companies like Booking Holdings, Expedia Group, and many others are releasing all kinds of AI tools that leverage third-party generative AI.
These generally move at a slower pace and prove to be less useful than chatbots from AI companies. However, there is still no replacement for traditional travel search and booking, and travel companies will certainly update their tools in 2025.
Some of this year’s major releases:
conclusion
It’s almost hard to remember where the world of AI and travel was at the beginning of 2024, but it was far removed from where it is today. And this is just the beginning of 2025. There is no doubt that the next year will bring an explosion of new technology for both travelers and travel companies, with improved technology providing a smoother experience.
