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Comment by CamperBob2 | Hacker News Reader

What freaks me out is the canonical "AI planned my entire vacation itinerary" example. I don't think I ever pay as much attention to anything in life as I do when I'm picking flights and hotels. Travel plans will be the very last thing I farm out to AI.

I'm fine delegating my programming work to a clanker, even accounting, but come on. The clanker isn't going to have to deal with the consequences of booking $40,000 airplane trips to hotels full of bedbugs.

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I use it extensively once im at a destination to generate ideas for where to go and what to see based on my interests and likes and dislikes, e.g "I'm in X city for the next 3 days, and I enjoy hiking and wwii history, what are some things to do?" "my mother in law and wife want to take a daytrip in region X, whats a good day plan given my MIL cant walk or hike far and my wife wants to take photos of scenic views?" I've gotten some great off-the-beaten-path suggestions this way.

But yeah im not using to book flights or hotels.

That's how most of us use AI for planning vacations, i.e. as a (better, by this point) replacement for Google Search.

and to create bullet lists about what they (probably) need to pack

(reusing bullets lists you carefully handcrafted for yourself would probably be better but that is another topic)

I see that a lot, and it's mind-boggling. If someone says "AI planned my vacation", I give it roughly:

     95% chance they're lying
    4.5% chance they're that foolish
    0.5% chance they're so rich they don't care.

If people are that rich don't they just have a person to plan that shit for them?

People don't, in general, plan my trips for me but I do long distance walking trips in areas where it's useful to have some specialist on-the-ground knowlege so I use companies that specialize in that sort of thing. Book my own air and urban hotels though.

I use AI extensively in my trips. It’s not that I literally prompt ChatGPT and then walk away while it books everything. It’s just a search engine on steroids that I use to generate ideas and collate options until I choose the things I want.

That's very much not "AI planned my vacation"

Does "I'm going to visit X city, show me a list of interesting place prepare me a schedule to visit them for X days" fit ? Because that's what i'm doing.

I think in the context of kbelder's original comment, it refers more to people having AI do the actual booking / handling payments, though I'd say you're getting there if you're having it pick out places for you. At that point you're just risking your time, not your wallet, which is easier to believe.

I read "Planning" as it will show me a plan, the decision to follow it or not is mine, not it will handle all the process (booking, purchasing).

And yes there is risk with its scheduling, but it's not like i will do any better, travelling has always come with risk in scheduling

I used AI to plan out my vacation. It helpfully suggested some improvements too

I certainly did not have AI do the bookings for my vacation though. Is that what you meant?

People use AI whether they believe it or not. Think you found a hidden deal, and hidden cheap flight, leading you to a hidden matcha cafe with a hidden view? Think again! The booking company which is owned by a booking company which is owned by a booking company wanted you to find it.

I’ve found plenty of hidden things by just wandering around in the real world - I’d bet most of them weren’t pushed by AI.

Or it's a bit for the 'gram. Influencer Tech.unicorn gave AI a budget and asked it to make her birthday special. https://www.instagram.com/p/Dej2T6PmzwX/

Do you mean planning, or do you mean booking? Those are two very different things.

I use AI to plan stuff all the time, but then I book it all myself.

Planning != booking.

planned & booked are not the same, I fear my sister very much has planned any vacation she did in recent times with AI. Just not booked it that way. And also planned doesn't mean no human in the loop, either.

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