Artificial intelligence slowly making its way into travel biz: Travel Weekly

Artificial intelligence (AI), which many experts predict will have an enormous impact on the travel industry, is becoming a reality not in the form of blockbuster apps but as a slow, steady trickle of apps, features and technological innovations. The pace of its progress was measured recently by a London School of Economics study, which identified AI and big data as "key disruptive factors shaping the travel distribution industry over the next decade." But the resulting report also noted that those factors have yet to spark major changes. More and more companies are developing and using AI technology today, and experts agree that a recognizable impact isn't too far off; it will begin trickling into agents' workflows over the next several months. "It's definitely not going to be like a flip switch -- one day there's no AI and the next day there's AI," said Paul English, co-founder of the travel agency Lola, where agents use AI to augment their workflows on a daily basis.