I enlisted both ChatGPT and Bing to help plan my Greece vacation. Guess which one did it better…
When Microsoft unveiled Bing AI to the world, it made some lofty claims about how it could help with our everyday search needs. Among Bing’s newly-acquired abilities that Microsoft highlighted during the launch was being able to help jetsetters plan out entire vacations.
Naturally, the ex-travel writer and perpetual nomad in me was skeptical. How could an AI chatbot plan a well-thought-out travel itinerary, and make worthwhile recommendations, when it’s never experienced any of these destinations or attractions? (Or at least, not yet. This isn’t Ex Machina.)
After all, it’s really only taking snippets from various source articles that were either written by copywriters with minimal experience themselves, or travel writers who’ve been shuffled around from one tourist trap to another by sponsor resorts and tourism boards. And it’s regurgitating all that content, much of which is dubious, without proper context.
Still, ever the curious Capricorn, I had to see for myself. So I took my sudden urge to buy a plane ticket to Greece as the perfect opportunity to see just how capable Bing was of planning my trip.
Can we all now just rely on Bing AI to plan our trips? Should travel agents and travel writers start worrying about their jobs? Well, at this point, let’s just say you don’t need to be worried about Bing…Like a travel agent who’s been in the biz too long
Chatting with Bing AI about planning my upcoming 15-day Hellenistic adventure felt like I was sitting in a tiny, dingy travel agency, the interior of which hasn’t been updated since the 1980s, in front of an aging travel agent who’s gotten tired of planning other people’s vacations and probably just wants to get on a cruise ship and enjoy wild, drunken nights with other tired, dejected souls.
Brutal, I know. But Bing AI not only took its sweet time responding to my simple questions, as if it was billing me by the minute, but its answers were the chatbot equivalent of “Let me print out this list for you on my dot matrix printer so you know which things you should see when you get there.”
“Can you help me plan my 15-day Greece vacation this April?” I asked. “Sure, here’s a list of six destinations in Greece you should see. I even included in parentheses how many days you should spend in each. Aren’t I great?” Bing AI responded.
“How do I get around without a car?”
“Here’s a short paragraph about the different ways to get around, with links to every sentence. You should do research in your own time, as this is a waste of mine.”
“What should my budget be without airfare?”
“It varies, but since you’re poor, here are tips to save money.”
Yes, yes, I’m exaggerating, and you can see the screenshots of my interactions with Bing above for context. But, that was what the whole interaction felt like… as if I was talking to someone who didn’t really care, or just didn’t think I’m worth spending time and effort on, which isn’t what you want from an actual travel agent who’s promised to help you plan your trip.
