Artificial intelligence is packing its bags and coming on holiday with us – the question is how much independence and privacy we leave behind at home. Dr Dominik Skowroński from the Faculty of Management, University of Lodz discusses the topic.
A Translator That Fits in Your Pocket
Let us begin with the function that has transformed travel the most. Imagine a pharmacy in a small Greek town. In the past, asking for medicine for a sore throat often required a theatrical level of charades. Today, all we need is a smartphone: we speak in Polish, the application translates our words into Greek, the pharmacist replies and we hear the translation in real time. This is no longer a gadget straight out of a science fiction film.
We should remember, however, that machine translation is an excellent bridge, but not always a precise one. Idioms, cultural context and irony can still prove challenging for it. It is a bit like cycling with an extra motor: we can travel farther and faster, but we still need to keep our hands on the handlebars.
A Guide That Never Sleeps
AI’s second role is that of a planner. Let us assume we have one day in Lisbon. We type into a voice assistant: “Create an eight-hour sightseeing itinerary. I enjoy history and good coffee, and I would like to avoid crowds.” Within seconds, we receive a route, opening hours and suggested breaks. What once required an evening spent with a guidebook and map now happens while we are waiting for a cup of coffee.
It is hardly surprising that the popularity of these tools is growing at an extraordinary pace. Interestingly, research also reveals a gap between awareness and practice: although almost everyone knows that AI can help plan a trip, fewer than half have actually tried it. However, once people do try it, they tend to continue using it. Among travellers who have used AI, as many as 96 per cent say they will use it again.
When the Guide Makes Things Up
Artificial intelligence can also be highly confident when it is wrong. Travellers describe situations in which AI directed them to “hidden gems” that turned out to be private homes, recommended restaurants that had been closed for years, or provided bus timetables for services that no longer operate. This phenomenon is known as hallucination. The model is not deliberately lying; it simply does not distinguish fact from fiction.
Travellers themselves seem to sense this limitation. In Klook’s survey, only 7 per cent of users trusted AI to be accurate every single time. And rightly so, because this is where the tension between convenience and independence lies: the more willingly we hand planning over to a machine, the easier it becomes to lose the habit of checking information ourselves. When travelling, the cost of such trust can be considerable – a wasted day, a locked door and lost money.
The Price of Convenience: Your Data Travels Too
There is another cost, one that does not appear on any receipt. When planning a holiday, we feed applications with highly personal information, including where we are travelling, when our home will be empty, what our documents look like and where we currently are. Free tools often make money from data, and when using roaming services, hotel Wi-Fi networks and location tracking, we leave behind an exceptionally detailed digital footprint.
The rules of common sense are straightforward. Do not upload passport scans or payment card details to assistants unless it is absolutely necessary. Check whether the tool uses your content to train its models. Turn off location services when you are not actively using the application. It is the digital version of an old traveller’s rule: do not leave your wallet in plain sight.
A Compass, Not an Autopilot
The healthiest approach to AI while travelling is to treat it as a compass rather than an autopilot. A compass points us in the right direction, but we decide which path to follow and when to take a detour because something more interesting catches our eye around the corner. Artificial intelligence is excellent at removing the tedious parts of travelling, such as searching for information, translating and organising logistics. What it leaves to people is the most valuable part of any journey: curiosity, spontaneity and conversation with other people – things no model can replace.
The ability to use AI wisely, including during holidays, is becoming one of today’s most valuable skills. It is not about choosing between technology and independence. It is about ensuring that one strengthens the other.
Comment author: Dr Dominik Skowroński
Edit: Faculty of Management, University of Lodz
