WIRED Journalists Recount Their Harrowing AI-Led City Tour

Two journalists embarked on an AI-generated city tour, with chaotic and unexpected results that highlight the current limitations of AI travel planning.

The AI tour guide: The writers used Littlefoot, an AI-powered local discovery chatbot, to plan their respective tours in London and New York, each with a $100 budget and specific preferences.

• Despite Littlefoot’s claims of using advanced AI models and information sources, the itineraries generated were often impractical, with recommendations that were either too niche, too vague, or not feasible due to time, location, or budget constraints.
• The AI struggled with basic details like restaurant opening hours, distances between attractions, and activity costs, leading to a disjointed and exhausting experience for the journalists.

The London experience: Natasha Bernal’s AI-planned day around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park was filled with mishaps and peculiar recommendations.

• The itinerary included back-to-back meals at odd locations, long walks and tube rides between destinations, and attractions that were either closed, unaffordable, or impossible to find.
• Despite the challenges, the random and chaotic nature of the tour led to unexpected discoveries, like a 2,000-year-old wooden log in a historic church and a thrilling ride on a malfunctioning rental e-bike.

The New York adventure: Amanda Hoover requested a dog-friendly tour of Manhattan, which proved difficult for the AI to accommodate.

• Littlefoot’s recommendations were scattered across the city, requiring multiple subway rides and long walks, with some locations not actually being dog-friendly or open during the suggested times.
• While the tour included some iconic spots like Central Park and the 9/11 Memorial, the AI struggled to provide an efficient and cohesive itinerary, leaving Hoover to rely on her own knowledge of the city to navigate between the recommended locations.

Looking ahead: The journalists’ experiences underscore the current shortcomings of AI-powered travel planning, but also hint at its potential for serendipitous discovery.

• Bigfoot, the startup behind Littlefoot, acknowledges the challenges and is working to refine its platform based on user feedback, with the goal of improving the itineraries in the near future.
• While AI-generated tours may lead to unexpected and memorable experiences, they still fall short of the efficiency and practicality of recommendations from knowledgeable locals or carefully planned itineraries.

As AI technology continues to advance, it may eventually become a valuable tool for travelers seeking unique and personalized experiences, but for now, human expertise and intuition remain essential for crafting the perfect city tour.