By Edward Hasbrouck
Over 40 participants joined a lively and informative BATW Zoom session on artificial intelligence (AI) in travel writing & the travel industry on April 16, 2024.
Marybeth Bond introduced Jade Broadus, who works for the travel app Steller.co and launched her travel writing career by winning a contest for travel writing on Twitter. (Marybeth invited Jade to share her insights on AI with BATW after hearing Jade’s standing-room-only presentation on AI at the SATW convention in Puerto Rico.)
Jade gave a fast-paced overview with examples of how AI is being used by travel companies, the pros and cons of using AI tools in our travel writing, and some specific AI tools that might be useful for travel writers and/or individual travelers.
There’s a lot of fear about AI, but also a lot of potential. Everything related to AI is changing so quickly that it’s hard to keep up.
AI can’t replace travel writers, but it may give an advantage to writers who learn to use AI tools. “The results of AI writing tools are only as good as the prompts,” Jade said, leaving room for skill in AI usage. AI output still needs human editing. Expertise, authority, and personal voice remain important.
Questions from BATW members in the discussion that followed and in the chat included requests for recommendations of specific AI tools and tips as well as more general concerns about the accuracy of AI output and whether AI is subject to abuse.
Jade’s presentation only scratched the surface, but it was clear that there is a lot of interest in how AI may affect travel writers and in how writers and travelers use AI tools.
Video of the session is posted on the BATW YouTube channel.