AI in Travel
Google’s ‘AI Mode’ Travel Search is Getting Serious
Google claims it will reshape how we explore travel options online. They recently pulled back the curtain on the company’s ambitious shift to an AI-first search approach. The centrepiece? A feature called AI Mode, which promises to revolutionize our search experience by making it more like chatting with a knowledgeable guide.
Unlike traditional search, AI Mode allows users to have a dynamic, multi-step conversations. Travellers searching for “family-friendly tours in Costa Rica” will no longer see just a list of links. Instead, Google’s AI can respond to follow-up queries like “What about for kids under 8?” or “Which ones include wildlife viewing?”
Brennen Bliss, CEO of Propellic, an AI-first digital marketing firm, is bullish on the new feature. He believes this conversational engine is more than just an AI snippet—it’s a full-fledged interactive experience.
“My prediction? This becomes the default search experience within 12 months—not the two to three years most people are assuming,” he says.
Impact on the Travel Industry
What does this mean for the travel world? The argument is that AI Mode will upend the traditional form or communication via content creation such as blog posts and destination guides to attract and engage users.
Instead of hopping across multiple sites to compare options, travellers will have a conversation with Google’s AI. This shift means that your content might play a new role—not so much in driving traffic but in training the AI.
The Booking Conundrum
Despite these advancements, one traditional aspect remains unchanged: the actual booking. While Google’s AI might suggest a dreamy sunset cruise in Santorini, it hasn’t yet mastered the art of completing a booking. With Google’s Project Mariner in the works, which aims to enhance commerce capabilities, that might change.
Mentions Over Clicks
In this evolving landscape, the quest for the top Google ranking is being replaced by the drive to be the brand the AI trusts and mentions. As Bliss puts it, “Mentions are the new clicks.” The brands that the AI frequently references will be the ones winning the game, not just those focusing on traditional SEO.
For travel brands, the message is: adapt or be left behind. Those of us in the business for longer than a mention have seen these predictions before. One thing is certain, scrambling to keep up with Google’s algorithms will soon go the way of a landline.
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AI in Travel
OpenAI Rolls Out ChatGPT Agent Combining Deep Research and Operator
OpenAI has launched the ChatGPT agent, a new feature that allows ChatGPT to act independently using its own virtual computer. The agent can navigate websites, run code, analyse data, and complete tasks such as planning meetings, building slideshows, and updating spreadsheets.
The feature is now rolling out to Pro, Plus, and Team users, with access for Enterprise and Education users expected in the coming weeks.
The agent integrates previously separate features like Operator and Deep Research, combining their capabilities into a single system. Operator allowed web interaction through clicks and inputs, while deep research focused on synthesis and summarisation.
The new system allows fluid transition between reasoning and action in a single conversation.
“You can use it to effortlessly plan and book travel itineraries, design and book entire dinner parties, or find specialists and schedule appointments,” OpenAI said in a statement. “ChatGPT requests permission before taking actions of consequence, and you can easily interrupt, take over the browser, or stop tasks at any point.”
Users can activate agent mode via the tools dropdown in ChatGPT’s composer window. The agent uses a suite of tools, including a visual browser, a text-based browser, terminal access, and API integration. It can also work with connectors like Gmail and GitHub, provided users log in via a secure takeover mode.
All tasks are carried out on a virtual machine that preserves state across tool switches. This allows ChatGPT to browse the web, download files, run commands, and review outputs, all within a single session. Users can interrupt or redirect tasks at any time without losing progress.
ChatGPT agent is currently limited to 400 messages per month for Pro users and 40 for Plus and Team users. Additional usage is available through credit-based options. Support for the European Economic Area and Switzerland is in progress.
The standalone Operator research preview will be phased out in the coming weeks. Users who prefer longer-form, slower responses can still access deep research mode via the dropdown menu.
While slideshow generation is available, OpenAI noted that formatting may be inconsistent, and export issues remain. Improvements to this capability are under development.
The system showed strong performance across benchmarks. On Humanity’s Last Exam, it scored a new state-of-the-art pass@1 rate of 41.6%, increasing to 44.4% when using parallel attempts. On DSBench, which tests data science workflows, it reached 89.9% on analysis tasks and 85.5% on modelling, significantly higher than human baselines.
In investment banking modelling tasks, the agent achieved a 71.3% mean accuracy, outperforming OpenAI’s o3 model and the earlier deep research tool. It also scored 68.9% on BrowseComp and 65.4% on WebArena, both benchmarks measuring real-world web navigation and task completion.
However, OpenAI acknowledged new risks with this capability. “This is the first time users can ask ChatGPT to take actions on the live web,” the company said. “We’ve placed a particular emphasis on safeguarding ChatGPT agent against adversarial manipulation through prompt injection.”
To counter these risks, ChatGPT requires explicit confirmation before high-impact actions like purchases, restricts actions such as bank transfers, and offers settings to delete browsing data and log out of sessions. Sensitive inputs entered during takeover sessions are not collected or stored.
The new system is classified under OpenAI’s “High Biological and Chemical” capability tier, triggering additional safeguards. The company has worked with external biosecurity experts and introduced monitoring tools, dual-use refusal training, and threat modelling to prevent misuse.
AI in Travel
Lovable Becomes AI Unicorn with $200 Million Series A Led by Accel in Less than 8 Months
Stockholm-based AI startup Lovable has raised $200 million in a Series A funding round led by Accel, pushing its valuation to $1.8 billion. The announcement comes just eight months after the company’s launch.
Lovable allows users to build websites and apps using natural language prompts, similar to platforms like Cursor. The company claims over 2.3 million active users, with more than 180,000 of them now paying subscribers.
CEO Anton Osika said the company has reached $75 million in annual recurring revenue within seven months.
“Today, there are 47M developers worldwide. Lovable is going to produce 1B potential builders,” he said in a post on X.
The latest round saw participation from existing backers, including 20VC, byFounders, Creandum, Hummingbird, and Visionaries Club. In February, Creandum led a $15 million pre-Series A investment when Lovable had 30,000 paying customers and $17 million in ARR, having spent only $2 million.
The company currently operates with a team of 45 full-time employees. The Series A round also attracted a long list of angel investors, including Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Remote CEO Job van der Voort, Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield, and HubSpot co-founder Dharmesh Shah.
Most of Lovable’s users are non-technical individuals building prototypes that are later developed further with engineering support. According to a press release, more than 10 million projects have been created on the platform to date.
Osika said the company is not targeting existing developers but a new category of users entirely. “99% of the world’s best ideas are trapped in the heads of people who can’t code. They have problems. They know the solutions. They just can’t build them.”
Lovable is also being used by enterprises such as Klarna and HubSpot, and its leadership sees the platform evolving into a tool for building full-scale production applications.
“Every day, brilliant founders and operators with game-changing ideas hit the same wall: they don’t have a developer to realise their vision quickly and easily,” Osika said in a statement.
Osika also said on X that he has become an angel investor in a software startup built using Lovable.
In another recent example, Osika noted that a Brazilian edtech company built an app using Lovable that generated $3 million in 48 hours.
Lovable’s growth trajectory suggests increased adoption among both individual users and enterprise customers, positioning it as a significant player in the growing AI-powered software creation market.
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