Expedia Hopes to Revolutionize Travel Planning with Advanced Generative AI Integration

Expedia is embracing Generative AI to help revolutionize its business strategies and customer interactions. This shift is crucial for maintaining relevance in a competitive market increasingly dominated by tech giants.

Rajesh Naidu , chief architect and head of data management at Expedia Group told Emilia David with The Verge that the goal is to get users started on their trips in one place. Expedia hopes to produce recommendations trained with?its library of flight and hotel information and informed by users’ travel preferences. “By being able to train large language models on our data, this rich 70 petabytes’ worth of data we’ve gathered over the years, we can eventually recommend places to go and stay and do and continue to refine and personalize that,” Naidu said.

According to Naidu, when people plan trips, they often start by going to a search engine to look for a destination. Only then do they visit services like Expedia to start booking travel and accommodation. There’s nothing inherently wrong with going to Google and typing “best vacation that isn’t cold and not that far from New York,” but Naidu believes there’s value in streamlining the travel planning process even more.

While all-in-one personalized travel planning is not available yet on Expedia, the service has long used machine learning algorithms to track flight prices and find hotels. It launched a Virtual Assistant tool in March 2020 to help customers with post-booking questions like refunds and confirming dates of stay, then announced a ChatGPT-powered customer service chatbot plug-in in April.

As companies look to learn more about Generative AI, many are heading to GenAI Today , a prominent event featuring a robust conference, that provides a platform for businesses to gain insights into the transformative power of GenAI.

The conference agenda at the Generative AI Expo highlights several key sessions that align with the changing landscape of business and technology:

1. GenAI and the Impact on the Enterprise: Exploring the influence of GenAI in revolutionizing industries, this session addresses how AI can generate creative content, solve complex problems, and enhance decision-making processes.
2. From Conversational AI to Generative AI: Focusing on the evolution from conversational AI to more advanced GenAI models, this session discusses the benefits, challenges, and strategies for deploying next-generation customer care technologies.
3. The Power of AI in Business - How to use Chat GPT with ERP: Here, the integration of AI language models with ERP systems is examined, highlighting how AI and cloud technologies are transforming the ERP landscape.
4. Decoding Enterprise AI: This session navigates the critical decision between investing in private LLMs and utilizing public GenAI services, providing a framework for understanding the various models and their implications for businesses.
5. Marketing & Sales: Where Does GenAI Fit In?: It addresses how GenAI can enhance sales and marketing strategies, exploring real-world examples and the intersection of human and AI efforts in achieving business objectives.
6. Monetizing the Coming Wave of Innovation Around Generative AI: This session delves into strategies and opportunities for monetizing GenAI, analyzing successful implementations and revenue-generating models.
7. CEO Insights: The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Using Generative AI for Business: In this session, CEOs debate the capabilities and limitations of AI, offering insights into its potential to disrupt communications technology.
8. Building Secure and Responsible Applications with Generative AI: Addressing the security and ethical concerns associated with GenAI applications, this session explores how to build and integrate these capabilities into enterprises efficiently.
9. Artificial General Intelligence – A Generative AI Epiphany: This session covers advancements in AI, focusing on the development of Artificial General Intelligence and its implications.
10. Taming the Knowledge Sprawl: It delves into the challenges of "knowledge sprawl" in GenAI models and strategies for controlling its impact.
11. Imagine A World Without Hold Times – An AI Optimist Explains: This session examines the role of GenAI in enhancing customer experiences and the importance of responsible AI deployment.
12. GenAI is Real: Now What?: Discussing the current state and future of GenAI, this session considers its impact on workforce dynamics, data security, and the balance between innovation and regulation.

Each of these sessions provides valuable insights for businesses like Expedia, helping them understand and leverage GenAI to enhance customer experiences, streamline operations, and stay competitive. The Generative AI Expo serves as an essential resource for companies seeking to navigate the complex landscape of modern technology and its impact on various industries.

GenAI Today is part of the ITEXPO #TECHSUPERSHOW - Feb 13-15, 2024, Fort Lauderdale, FL. We hope to see you there and if you use Expedia to book your travel, let us know.

Aside from his role as CEO of?TMC?and chairman of?ITEXPO,?Rich Tehrani is CEO of?RT Advisors?and a Registered Representative with and offering securities through?Four Points Capital Partners LLC?(Four Points) (Member FINRA/SIPC). RT Advisors is not owned by Four Points.

RT Advisors?continues its mission of assisting tech companies in M&A and capital raising using our unique tech media background and relationships to aid companies to optimally position themselves. In addition, as of late we have been increasingly assisting fast-growing tech companies in obtaining non-dilutive capital. Please?let us know?if we can be of assistance.?The above is not an endorsement or recommendation to buy/sell any security or sector mentioned. No companies mentioned above are current or past clients of RT Advisors.