We’ve been discussing the AI policy (and current lack of one) at work lately, and during a retreat last week we did an exercise on how to use AI for simple tasks. I’ve messed with it before and found it useful for certain things. One of the suggestions in the retreat, however, caught my ear: have AI map out a vacation itinerary. In years past I’ve bought a travel book for that region or city and used it as a guide, with both success and failure, so having a robotic tour guide didn’t sound like a bad idea.

Intrigued, I plugged a couple of questions into ChatGPT and after some tuning, I got a four-day itinerary for Porto, where we’re going to be vacationing later this coming month. I cross-checked the suggestions last night with Google Maps and found that they hold up pretty well; the AI doesn’t have us walking into the Atlantic Ocean to get somewhere, or jumping continents for dinner reservations. I’m now looking at the feasibility of driving to Lisbon and nearby Sintra with a couple of overnights, and I’m going to ask ChatGPT what it recommends doing down there too. For quick suggestions, this is a lot faster and can give us specialized hints, especially if we fine-tune the requests.