Expedia, the online travel company, has recently made the bold move to integrate an AI chatbot called ChatGPT to its app for booking trips. We decided to put the bot to test and asked it to plan a two-week holiday around Europe without. The results were quite disappointing, as the carbon-intensive itinerary suggested spending most of the holiday at airports and on flights. So, we asked the bot to plan us a more interesting, budget and eco-friendly trip.
ChatGPT came to the rescue by recommending five cities: Copenhagen, Denmark; Costa Brava, Spain; the Azores, Portugal; Norway; and Amsterdam, Netherlands. ChatGPT said that Amsterdam had the strongest commitment to sustainability and eco-friendly solutions, so we decided to plan an ultimate, budget- and eco-friendly weekend in Europe there.
ChatGPT suggested the most economical and environmentally friendly method of getting there, which was a combination of train and ferry. For example, one could take the Greater Anglia train from London Liverpool Street Station to Harwich International Station for around €17 per person, and then take the Stena Line ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland for around €57. The train from there to Amsterdam Central Station would then cost around €11 per person.
Next, we asked ChatGPT to arrange sustainable accommodation and it recommended Cocomama hostel, located in the city centre, as it is certified eco-friendly. One bed in a shared dorm room would cost about €34 per night and for a private room, the cost starts at around €85 per night. Although the prices were slightly low, the reviews were decent, it was one of the cheaper propsities in the city and it boasted a lot of green credentials.
For sustainable activities to explore the city, ChatGPT advised going to the Cuyp market for shopping, Vondelpark for open air concerts in the summer and Oosterpark for birdwatching. The bot also gave us a list of restaurants offering locally-sourced, organic food such as Beter Bio, The Earth Kitchen and Cafe A Lab.
Finally, ChatGPT gave us an estimated budget of €278-465 per person. This seemed optimistic, but it would have to do.
Considering the source – an AI chatbot – the suggestions given were solid, although some of them could have been a bit more original. Nevertheless, we were quite pleased with the outcome of our experiment with ChatGPT and the ultimate, budget- and eco-friendly weekend holiday in Europe it had planned for us.
OpenAI, the company responsible for the development of ChatGPT, was founded in late 2015 with the mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence developed by their research benefits humanity as a whole. OpenAI is the world’s leader in artificial intelligence research, and their products are used by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. ChatGPT is the start of their journey towards enabling machines to be as capable and productive as human beings.
The person mentioned in this article is the AI chatbot ChatGPT. Developed by OpenAI, this popular chatbot was designed to answer questions in a personalised manner through the use of masses of data. Clearly, it has vast potential, having been integrated with Expedia, and it was great to see it plan our ultimate eco-friendly holiday in Europe.
