Google Bard Ups the AI Ante for Travelers
By Robert McGarvey
Google, make no mistake, is not in AI to be an also ran. Its plan is to be the winner in this high stakes game and travel is emerging as a particular hot spot for AI innovation.
Case in point: Google just a few days ago tweaked Bard, its AI tool, so that it integrates with multiple Google products including Gmail, Docs and Drive and if you use those apps you are missing a bet if you don’t also use Bard.
The real payoff for travelers using Bard is that it can now scrape data from those core apps and it also is updating its database realtime including data from Google Flights and Google Hotels.
Faced with a realtime decision – should I book an Airbnb whole condo in Madrid’s Lavapies neighborhood at an attractive price, Bard told me to go for it. Or, rather, it gave me a neighborhood thumbnail that told me this works well for me.
So I booked.
Next I asked what’s the best tapas bar in Lavapies – because time in Madrid without tapas is time not well spent. It came back with a group of five and the bonus is that in addition to one sentence write ups about each Bard placed them on Google Maps for me.
OK, so now I want to know how to get to the Prado, really the centerpiece of any Madrid holiday. Back comes Bard with an 11 minute trip on the metro – and call me weird I adore taking subways pretty much wherever I go. Of course there’s a Google Map view too.
Where to eat dinner – which, you’ll recall if you have been to Spain, isn’t served until 8 pm? My choice from Bard’s group of five is Los Porfiados with its rescued furniture decor. Of course Bard offers up four more options so I will eat eclectically during my stay. There’s a Google Map, natch.
Sure, I’ll want to eat in the Airbnb apartment, at least occasionally, so where to buy groceries? Bard offers up five choices and the expected Google Map. Probably my winner is Carrefour but you might prefer Foodland Madrid which Bard tells me is an Indian market.
A question I should have asked long ago is how get there from the airport. Bard knows and tells me it will take 47 minutes, just 15 more than a taxi and lots cheaper. Also great fun for a subway maven.
Couldn’t I get most of this info through a simple Google search? Not exactly. Yes, the bare facts would pop up in search but what Google is cleverly and seamlessly doing is weaving in various of its tools. The map integration is especially useful for a traveler as is the convenience of the integrated package especially if you are hunting for info on a mobile phone as I often will be doing on a mobile phone (thank T-Mobile for free data in Spain).
The potential payoffs multiply when planning a group trip is on the agenda. Here’s what Google says: “For example, if you’re planning a trip to the Grand Canyon (a project that takes up many tabs), you can now ask Bard to grab the dates that work for everyone from Gmail, look up real-time flight and hotel information, see Google Maps directions to the airport, and even watch YouTube videos of things to do there — all within one conversation.”
Losers in this rise of very useful travel AI of course will be guide books. I still see value in highly targeted guides such as John Brierly’s extraordinary Camino de Santiago books or Bebe Bahrami’s wonderful guide to historic places, sacred sites and more along the Camino Frances but when you want the Joe Friday, just the facts info Google Bard is hard to beat.
Incidentally, Kevin Roose at the New York Times is down on this new Bard which he describes as “a mess.” I don’t actually disagree but what I see is a first draft that has immense potential and I also believe Google will get most of the parts working in harmony soon. Probably very soon because Google is in overdrive on this.
So if you are heading to parts unknown next week, don’t be too quick to jettison your traditional info sources and put all your faith in Bard. But if the trip you are researching isn’t until 2024…I know I won’t hesitate to give Bard a tough trial run.