As a concept, artificial intelligence has technically existed since the 1950s. Specifically, the term was first coined in a conference at Dartmouth College in 1956, and has since come to be known by the more simplified initialism of AI. It may have far future implications, but artificial intelligence is used now in more aspects of our lives than we are likely aware of - from the everyday fraud detection and shopping promotions, to more controversial systems such as facial recognition. While we're still longing for Marty McFly's self tying shoes and hover-board to become part of the norm, AI is one aspect of the old sci-fi world that really has come true. Back when we were dreaming of driverless cars and superhuman cyborg law enforcers, we couldn't really comprehend how the 21st Century would shape out.

The maturing of cognitive technologies is opening up opportunities in travel, according to a trends report from Deloitte. The report says the technology enables travel brands to change existing processes, streamline operations and create "smart workforces." Cognitive technology is within the field of artificial technology (including machine learning, natural language processing and speech recognition) and is able to carry out jobs that up until now have been done by humans. The Deloitte 2019 U.S. Travel and Hospitality Outlook says that the mix of operations carried out by and between people combined with the unpredictability of traveler preferences and travel patterns presents opportunities for cognitive technology in terms of insight, automation and engagement. The report points to airports as an example where cognitive insight can be employed to analyze data across various sources, help avoid delays and ultimately improve the passenger experience.