What Happens When AI Directs Tourists to Places That Don't Exist? (bbc.com)
- Reference: 0179675038
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/10/06/0434206/what-happens-when-ai-directs-tourists-to-places-that-dont-exist
- Source link: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250926-the-perils-of-letting-ai-plan-your-next-trip
"According to a [2]2024 survey , 37% of those surveyed who used AI to help plan their travels reported that it could not provide enough information, while around 33% said their AI-generated recommendations included false information." Some examples?
> - Dana Yao and her husband recently experienced this first-hand. The couple used ChatGPT to plan a romantic hike to the top of Mount Misen on the Japanese island of Itsukushima earlier this year. After exploring the town of Miyajima with no issues, they set off at 15:00 to hike to the montain's summit in time for sunset, exactly as ChatGPT had instructed them. "That's when the problem showed up," said Yao, a creator who runs a [3]blog about traveling in Japan , "[when] we were ready to descend [the mountain via] the ropeway station. ChatGPT said the last ropeway down was at 17:30, but in reality, the ropeway had already closed. So, we were stuck at the mountain top..."
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> - A 2024 [4]BBC article reported that [dedicated travel AI site] [5]Layla briefly told users that there was an Eiffel Tower in Beijing and suggested a marathon route across northern Italy to a British traveller that was entirely unfeasible...
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> - A recent [6] Fast Company article recounted an incident where a couple made the trek to a scenic cable car in Malaysia that they had seen on TikTok, only to find that no such structure existed. The video they'd watched had been entirely AI generated, either to drum up engagement or for some other strange purpose.
Rayid Ghani, a distinguished professor in machine learning at Carnegie Melon University, tells them that an AI chatbot "doesn't know the difference between travel advice, directions or recipes. It just knows words. So, it keeps spitting out words that make whatever it's telling you sound realistic..."
[1] https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250926-the-perils-of-letting-ai-plan-your-next-trip
[2] https://www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/travel-money/guides/ai-travel-planning
[3] https://danayao.com/
[4] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy3qp15x73o
[5] https://layla.ai/
[6] https://www.fastcompany.com/91368492/ai-video-tricking-tourists-places-that-dont-exist
Anyone who believes... (Score:2)
...guidance from an AI without independent verification deserves what they get
More likely to fall into an tourist trap that paid (Score:3)
More likely to fall into an tourist trap that paid it's way to the top
Re: (Score:3)
And with Apple Maps that could even be a literal statement!
Stupid? (Score:3)
How would someone know that information was AI generated? How would you know that information on Google maps was AI generated? Or any other information on the internet? What is stupid is thinking being smarter will protect you from this sort of thing.
A Nigerian prince once told me.. (Score:4, Insightful)
...that I should just do a simple double-check on things I hear online, or from anywhere else for that matter. Especially if it's something I need to rely on, or if it seems controversial, urgent, surprising or high-stakes.
Re: A Nigerian prince once told me.. (Score:3)
It's spam. Don't listen to him.
hallu-delulu (Score:1)
hallucinations from device manuals makes ai pretty useless for things it should be really good at...
When AI directs investors to nonexistent stocks... (Score:2)
And that'll the good version, can't wait until Uncle Jim Bob's Toolshed becomes a billion dollar company overnight cause AI hallucinated that it'd be the next big thing.
The Itsukushima girl is an absolute Karen (Score:3)
"we were ready to descend [the mountain via] the ropeway station. ChatGPT said the last ropeway down was at 17:30, but in reality, the ropeway had already closed. So, we were stuck at the mountain top" The Itsukushima summit to town is like 30-40 min walk on a solid paved ground with signs and tourist photo stops all along the way down. If you are "adventorous" you can take a longer route that is no longer than hour and half if you want to see more of sightseeing. "Stuck on a mountain top" lol
Re: (Score:2)
> The Itsukushima summit to town is like 30-40 min walk on a solid paved ground
Heh. You are right. [1]https://maps.app.goo.gl/tevw9p... [app.goo.gl] shows some of the easy path, and in the early evening it would also be a very lovely (and quite short) stroll! A situation where your GPS leading you typically astray became a welcome event instead.
Without taking away from your valid point:- I think the Aussie/UK slang "poor little diddums" fits her more than 'karen'. Karen is that well-known and quite typically horrible, scr
[1] https://maps.app.goo.gl/tevw9piV7giysito6
Re: The Itsukushima girl is an absolute Karen (Score:2)
Huh. Who would've thought.... Goes to show: you really should double-check everything on the internet. Including, but definitely not limited to, AI stuff.
Re: (Score:2)
The best path down Mt Misen isn't really paved all the way. It is a forest path, with stone steps.
They had set out to descend after sunset, and I don't remember seeing any lights on the path. Even a paved road can be dangerous in pitch black.
But I'd agree that it is stupid to rely on any third-party time table you'd find online.
Many travel sites and Google Maps often have outdated information, and often don't account for seasonal variations in opening hours. Many sites' own web sites don't get updated prope
artificial intelligence is fed up with someone (Score:1)
There was once a book called "Net Slaves" and there was a section for each group of people: "How to stop them from contacting you" That's the topic from that section...... to send an unpleasant group of people so deep into hell that they can't find their way back.
Tell me what the point of AI is... (Score:3)
..if I have to check absolutely everything it says.
That requirement just doubles the work, instead of cutting down the work.
Re: (Score:2)
yep. they should be penalised in some way if they give out duff information when they keep telling us its the way to go.
Re: (Score:2)
This is the new "AI", which is just a higher-order statistics of words and their relations that have been found in text scraped off the web.
You know: racist rants, shitposts, memes .. and posts like this.
The older, classic, type of "AI", such as "expert systems" used to be based on highly curated information, input by experts in the field. With each datum and relation known to have meaning beforehand.
I hate these stupid "what if AI .." questions. (Score:2)
What if AI figures out you're a fucking moron? What if the GPS gives you bad directions? What if your coffeemaker breaks? What if your anal beads stop working during a chess match with Magnus Carlsen? You do nothing. Does that work for you? You do nothing. Or, just replace AI with "what if a human .." .. "What if a human gives you bad directions?" You fucking punch him in the face and move on. Just do the same with AI. Dumbass. Humans do all the mistakes that AI does. So does any mechanical object that bre
Google sent me this way (Score:2)
AI edition.
How stupid does one need to be? (Score:3)
How stupid does one need to be not to double check what an AI chat bot tells them? I mean, I even usually double-check what humans tell me. I'd sure double check that imaginary Peruvian canyon location and the time that Japanese ropeway closes at if I intended to get off the mountain before the night.
Selection pressure (Score:5, Informative)
> How stupid does one need to be?
Stupid enough to breed, but not stupid enough to die before breeding.
Re: (Score:3)
> A 2024 BBC article reported that [dedicated travel AI site] Layla briefly told users that there was an Eiffel Tower in Beijing
This one is not quite as ridiculous as it sounds. About 800 miles (1250 Km) south of Beijing is the city of Tianducheng. It started as one of the Ghost Cities, underpopulated cities meant to resemble western locations like Paris, London, Germany, and others. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
There are numerous replicas of the Eiffel Tower around the world. This website lists eleven of the most well known, including Tianducheng. [2]https://www.unjourdeplusaparis... [unjourdeplusaparis.com]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianducheng
[2] https://www.unjourdeplusaparis.com/en/paris-insolite/repliques-tour-eiffel-dans-le-monde
Re: (Score:3)
1250 km away is not ridiculously wrong to you? You're saying "well, it said the eiffel tower was in Rome, which is not as ridiculous as it sounds, there's an eiffel tower in Paris 1250km away." It would probably get this absolutely right 100% of the time if there was only one Eiffel Tower, but since there's a dozen replicas or more, its much easier to hallucinate.
Even if it was only 500km away its still wrong and deserves ridicule, specifically for a *travel focused* chatterbot that is supposed to h
Re: Selection pressure (Score:2)
This is China. 1250 km is practically "the suburbs"
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe you're trying to be funny but its most definitely not close or 'the suburbs' for Beijing, any more than 800 miles is 'the suburbs' in the USA (unless you consider Jacksonville Florida a suburb of NYC)... Its easily 10+ hours or more by train to this 'Eiffel Tower', especially for a tourist with limited time, its absolutely wrong and not even close.
Re: Selection pressure (Score:2)
I wouldn't know, I'm in Europe. 1250 km for us spans 4 nations or so.
But I genuinely knew a Russian guy once who, when asked, always unironically said he was from Moskow. When asked "where exactly in Moskow", it turned out it was Niznhy Nowgorod. It's 500 km or so away, and it definitely takes the better part of the day to reach one from the other by car.
Re: Selection pressure (Score:2)
I guess the moral of the story is: depends on what you're used to.
Re: (Score:2)
What proportion of the population thinks they need to double-check *everything* an AI chatbot tells them? They're being sold "artificial intelligence" and receiving a reasonable looking product. If they had to verify every single detail what would be the point of using the service?
It ain't "stupid", it's "average human".
Re: (Score:2)
> If they had to verify every single detail what would be the point of using the service?
For me, the point is to find sources. If there's a [citation needed], then it has to be treated as unknown.
This is the same as Wikipedia. It's helpful because the internet has gotten less and less searchable, as spam has crept into Google and other search engines.
Re: (Score:2)
> But the canyon didn't exists
The same kind of stupid that forgot to proofread TFS? /s
Re: How stupid does one need to be? (Score:2)
If you get to, say, 98% correct answers, you stop checking the answers by ordinary web search.
Re: How stupid does one need to be? (Score:2)
It's the same type stupidity as people who vote in politians that will make their life worse, they don't do proper objective research
Re: (Score:2)
if I intended to get off the mountain before the next day morning .
FTFY