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Everyone’s talking about AI, but how useful is it when it comes to everyday challenges? We’re planning a vacation, but instead of doing endless online research, we’ve decided to let two of the biggest large language models help us choose the best vacation destination for our specific needs.
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00:00We went on the vacation of a lifetime, and it was all planned by AI.
00:10But first, let's rewind.
00:14Generative AI has taken the world by storm,
00:17whether it's from the inescapable, personalized action figure memes on social media,
00:21or increasingly embedded AI in our phones, laptops, and beyond.
00:25Memes, trends, and marketing campaigns might be the main reason we hear about AI,
00:28but the real question is, can it solve our problems as it's promised to?
00:33To put it to the test, I'm going to let AI choose, budget, plan, and even join me on my vacation.
00:39We want to show how anyone can use generative AI to plan a holiday,
00:42so think of this as an entry point for beginners.
00:45For more advanced users, check out TechRadar.com's regular AI coverage using the QR code on the screen.
00:50With that, let's see what AI has in store for us next.
00:52But I'm not braving this adventure alone.
00:55I roped in two friends to join me on the trip.
00:57There's Axel.
01:00Hamish.
01:03And then there's me.
01:07So, you guys know this much that we're going away on vacation together.
01:11We're going for four days.
01:12What I haven't told you is AI is going to plan it all.
01:15So they're going to choose where we go, what we do, everything.
01:19I have asked you to prepare a little bit about what you want from the trip.
01:23So why don't you both tell me what's your main objective from a vacation?
01:27Axel, you go first.
01:28I think sun, beach, water.
01:30I'm definitely more of a beach guy than you, I think, Hamish.
01:32So, yeah.
01:33Okay.
01:34Heat, tan.
01:35It's a vacation, you know?
01:36It's supposed to be relaxing.
01:37Hamish, what about you then?
01:38See, I prefer something like kind of adventurous.
01:40I want to go out, explore a new place, try some new food, hopefully not get food poisoning,
01:46and just have a really good time.
01:48I don't mind going somewhere beachy, sort of mild and sunny.
01:52Sunny is good.
01:52I do burn super easily, so one or both of you is going to have to be on suntan lotion duty,
01:57just making sure I actually keep topped up.
01:59We're also going to be taking the best AI phones out there with us.
02:02I'm getting into photography.
02:03I want lots of good pictures.
02:04My primary objective is good shots.
02:07Now, if we try to plan all of this ourselves, well, this might be the result.
02:22So, instead, we're using AI.
02:34We've each filled out a dream vacation questionnaire, which we're going to share with the two largest
02:38LLM chatbots, ChatGPT and Gemini.
02:41So, I've got your questionnaire results that you filled before you came here today.
02:45We're going to give those to ChatGPT and Gemini, and it's going to use deep research to
02:49choose a location for us.
02:50Do you know what deep research is?
02:52Absolutely no idea.
02:53So, I'm hoping, Hamish, that you can tell me what that is.
02:55Yeah, okay.
02:56So, know a little bit about it.
02:58So, deep research is what's called an AI agent.
03:00It's meant to sort of help you kind of like a person would.
03:03So, in this instance, you hand deep research a bunch of information, and then it uses the
03:09information you've provided, as well as, you know, the internet and its databanks to
03:13come together with a little research document.
03:16Kind of like, you know, if you ask someone to put together a little travel plan for you,
03:19like a travel agent, it will hopefully give you a similar result.
03:22Sure.
03:22And it's quite cool as well because you can actually see it's working while it's going
03:25to.
03:26So, we'll be able to see all the sources it's using, how it's actually interpreting
03:30the information we've given it.
03:31And that will also help us when we come to then prompt it some more and get further information
03:35out of it.
03:35We'll be able to see what it's done already and adjust those parameters.
03:38After that, we're going to ask it to give us a hot seat round, ask us 20 questions that
03:42will help us choose the final location out of the five options it gives us.
03:46So, let's give it a go.
03:48With that, we got to work writing our prompts, after which there was a good 10 minute waiting
03:52time while ChatGPT and Gemini researched their answers.
03:56So, in the meantime, here's Hamish with five quick tips for writing the best possible ChatGPT
04:00prompts.
04:01Yes, so if you're looking to write the perfect ChatGPT prompt, the first thing you're going
04:05to want to think about is explaining who you are.
04:07For example, say that you're a teacher making a quiz for your students, or include your age
04:12if you're looking for holiday suggestions, so it gives you relevant information rather
04:16than something generic that just isn't relevant to your needs.
04:19Next, you're going to want it to tell it the format that you want the information presented
04:22in.
04:23Make it clear that you want the output to be presented as an article, a script, a bullet
04:27point list, or a guide.
04:29You can even specify the word count limit to fine-tune the response so that everything
04:33suits your specific style needs.
04:36And when writing the prompt, remember to use natural language.
04:40While structured prompts are important, over-complicating them can really backfire.
04:45AI models are designed to interpret natural language, so keeping prompts clear, direct,
04:51and conversational will normally net you the best results.
04:55Next, ask the AI to show you its thought process.
04:58If you need the AI to provide reasoning or logical steps, ask it to take it through how
05:03it generated its answer.
05:04This technique, known as chain of thought prompting, is useful for tasks like explaining how it's
05:09worked out a problem or outlining an argument.
05:11Not only can it help you understand what the chatbot has said, but it's also super helpful
05:15so you can see where it went wrong if it made some mistake so that you can later tweak your
05:19prompt.
05:20Lastly, refine as you go.
05:22Even with well-crafted prompts, the first output probably won't be perfect.
05:27AI works best if you refine.
05:28Say, if a response is too vague or off-track, rethink your prompt by specifying the tone, level
05:33of detail or word choice, or maybe go in and just say, oh, actually, can you rethink that
05:37with this other detail?
05:39Small adjustments can make a massive difference in turning a poor response into something perfect.
05:43Okay, it looks like we're done.
05:4634 sources, 110 searches.
05:49That's taken 16 minutes, according to ChatGPT.
05:52Okay, so we have Santorini, Greece.
05:54I think we knew that one was coming.
05:55It was kind of suggesting that other stuff.
05:57Yeah, we saw that in there a little bit.
05:58It's talking about the weather, cost estimates in there.
06:01Madera, there we go.
06:02Madera, we saw that coming through.
06:04Similar vibe to Santorini, but a bit more, I don't want to say wild, but you know what I mean?
06:09It seems to be more interesting for sure.
06:10Cappadocia.
06:11Oh, it's Turkey.
06:12Turkey, okay.
06:13It was in Italy.
06:14If I had to guess, I would have said that was in Italy.
06:16Is this the one with all of the hot air balloons?
06:19Oh, yeah, maybe.
06:20I mean, that is in Turkey's.
06:21And then Bay of Couture, Montenegro.
06:23Okay, yeah, yeah.
06:24That's quite an interesting one.
06:25Not somewhere I'd ever thought of before.
06:27Esauaria.
06:28Okay, so it hasn't just done Europe.
06:29No, no, it's looked at...
06:30You can see all the citations as we go through as well.
06:32Yes.
06:32This is where the information comes from.
06:34Okay, and then we've got some sources at the end as well.
06:36Next up, we're going to Gemini.
06:38Exact same prompt, same information.
06:40Same questionnaires.
06:42Let's see what it comes up with.
06:43Right, so it researched 40 websites.
06:46It sort of only very briefly gives you the chance to look at that,
06:48but we've got Lagos, Portugal, which we saw in the thinking.
06:52Yeah.
06:53We've got Hania in Crete, same again.
06:55It's basically stuck with the five it identified
06:58right at the beginning of its research,
07:00and then it's just given us the information based off of that.
07:02It's a lot of information, isn't it?
07:04Yeah.
07:04I mean, if we're scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling again.
07:09And now we've got its sources have come up now as well.
07:12So we've seen the results from both now.
07:15What's your general feeling about which one did better?
07:19I think ChatGPT overall did a little bit better.
07:23It seemed to me like it picked out options that I was generally more interested in.
07:28I think, you know, we sort of said, oh, we'd pick one from each chatbot,
07:31but I'm kind of leaning towards just wanting to pick two from ChatGPT as my top two.
07:36Though I was interested for both of them,
07:38because if you're planning to go on a holiday, you want to see what it looks like.
07:41And I was surprised that maybe it's a rights thing,
07:43but there were just no images of you could just see them in that moment.
07:47We've kind of got to go away and look at those places ourselves,
07:50rather than just being able to do everything from within the AI.
07:52Yeah, like there's still a step you have to take yourself.
07:55Axel, what about you? Which gave the best results for you?
07:57Yeah, I think the same as you.
07:58I think in terms of locations, ChatGPT,
08:00I actually quite like the way Gemino laid things out,
08:02but I think ChatGPT kind of,
08:04the answer's more aligned with what I want from a vacation
08:06and what you want from a vacation.
08:07Only really Santorini was one that I probably wouldn't go to there.
08:10Like you get the sun, but it is quite a notoriously crowded place.
08:14Yeah, and I think seeing as that was in both yours and my questionnaire,
08:17I think I was quite surprised that it at all considered Santorini
08:21because it is just a bit of a tourist trap.
08:22But I mean, as for the others, I mean, Madeira, Montenegro,
08:25I'm definitely happy with these.
08:27Yeah, I mean, all great options.
08:29Yeah, even the likes of Cappadocia, I think really interesting places,
08:33not places I would think to go myself,
08:35whereas Gemini, I wouldn't say there was anything in there
08:37I hadn't have thought of.
08:39Maybe the Italy location it gave us, but broadly speaking...
08:42Yeah, it's like Lagos in Portugal.
08:43I was like, yeah, you could have picked that out yourself, it feels like.
08:46And I mean, for me as well, I want to go somewhere new and exciting.
08:51I don't want to just go to the same old, same old.
08:53Yeah, I mean, it gave us St Paul's Bay in Malta, which I've been to.
08:55Valletta in Malta is the capital, and it's like,
08:57I think that fits our requirements much more,
09:00but it gave us somewhere that wasn't that, so...
09:01Yeah, yeah.
09:02I mean, we saw when it was doing its thinking for the research,
09:05it didn't spend a lot of time thinking about the location.
09:09It spent a lot of time thinking about the information about the location,
09:11whereas ChatGPT was, I think, almost eight minutes
09:14of just deciding location options.
09:18I think that sounds like we're all aligned then.
09:20ChatGPT won that one.
09:21I'm happy to give it to ChatGPT.
09:23Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:23All right.
09:24Now we have our winner, we can move on to the next stage,
09:27the quickfire question round.
09:28Now we know that ChatGPT is our winner,
09:30we're going to ask it to ask us a series of questions.
09:33We've all picked our top location,
09:36so, Hamish, what was your top location?
09:37I think I'm going to go for Bay of Couture.
09:39It's not somewhere I've been before,
09:41looks like it ticks a lot of my boxes,
09:43so, yeah, hopeful that'll be a good one.
09:45Nice.
09:45I think I'm going to do Madeira.
09:47It was between Montenegro and Madeira,
09:49but Madeira is, I've not been there before,
09:50and I think it's a nice mix of beach and, like, nature.
09:53I've gone for Cappadocia because hot air balloons,
09:56pictures, Instagram,
09:57I've always wanted that iconic Instagram shot
10:00of sea of hot air balloons, you know, it's gorgeous.
10:03I'm sure it'll be nice.
10:04I'm a little nervous of heights,
10:05but I guess I'll do it if I have to.
10:07See, I'm there to try new things,
10:09and I can't say that and then not challenge myself.
10:11If ChatGPT doesn't ask us about heights,
10:14that well could be our option, so...
10:16Big red flag.
10:16We'll see how it goes.
10:17Good note to always make sure you include
10:19everything you don't want, including fears of heights.
10:22Hamish's last-minute fear of heights disclosure aside,
10:25ChatGPT then asked us 20 questions
10:27to help us pick a winner,
10:28and with that, we rolled the dice
10:30and let it choose our destination.
10:32All right, so we've sent our results.
10:34Let's see what it comes back with.
10:36Oh, here we go.
10:39But before we get to that,
10:40let's talk about staying safe online in the age of AI.
10:43From new AI scams to increased cybersecurity risks,
10:45the internet has never been more volatile.
10:47When you're booking a vacation,
10:48the last thing you want to do
10:49is share all of those personal details with bad actors.
10:52That also means there's never been a better time
10:53to invest in your online security,
10:55which is where our sponsor for this video series comes in.
10:57I sat down with Leila Bilge,
10:59Global Head of Scam Research at Norton,
11:00to learn more about online safety in the age of AI.
11:03So Leila, how do large language models synthesize travel data
11:06and what does that mean for consumers?
11:08AI actually is trying to imitate how our brain works
11:10and kind of like records data and processes
11:13and try to identify the things that is the most relevant.
11:16AI actually, when you kind of like make a question about travel,
11:20let's say you provide a place where you want to go,
11:22when and exactly,
11:23it will actually try to identify those patterns
11:26or interesting information
11:27that is going to be relevant for the question
11:29so that actually the answer could be as personalized as possible.
11:34So we're using trusted AI interfaces here,
11:36but in the age of AI,
11:37that technology is leading to a rise in scams.
11:40Have you found that to be true in your experience?
11:41And following on from that,
11:42what are you seeing in terms of new risks?
11:44Even if you're using, let's say, a trusted platform,
11:47let's say you're using an OpenAI's chat GPT,
11:50which is the most popular at the moment,
11:51you will be likely more safe
11:53because you're using their platforms.
11:55Your device still can be actually compromised by attackers.
11:59So if your device is compromised,
12:01whatever you're writing,
12:03the response that actually is made by this powerful AI
12:06will be known by the attackers
12:08and they can actually use this information
12:10and craft much more interesting, much more powerful attacks.
12:14So AI makes trip planning faster,
12:16but scam sites are also using AI to appear more legitimate.
12:18How can people spot those scams and protect themselves?
12:21So I believe that in the age of AI,
12:23we need to actually have the right tools
12:25so that you can get help,
12:27you can have assistance during your journey online.
12:30As a security expert myself,
12:31it's the first time in my life,
12:33I actually needed an anti-scam solution
12:35because basically I'm getting so many messages per day.
12:38I feel like there is an attacker always in my life.
12:41So can AI planning tools
12:42accidentally send people to risky or fake locations?
12:45And what can people use
12:46to separate the good from the sketchy?
12:47Typically what happens is that
12:48when you make a query with ChatGPT
12:51and they will use a search engine
12:52to try to get this information
12:54and they will likely get the first time results
12:56from the search
12:57and they will process and summarize for you
12:59so you can actually decide.
13:00Attackers actually know how to put their malicious websites
13:05in the first 10 ranking of the page.
13:08So if it's going to be in the first 10,
13:10you will also get the answer of the malicious one.
13:12And since AI is not actually designed
13:14to check which one is clean or malicious,
13:17you will get it
13:18and you will basically believe that it is.
13:20Thanks for that, Axel.
13:21And thanks again to our sponsor, Norton.
13:23Now, the moment you've all been waiting for.
13:26Where are we going on vacation?
13:28Come on, there we go.
13:29Nice.
13:29Madeira, Portugal.
13:31Okay, why it wins.
13:32It hits the sweet spot between scenic nature,
13:35laid back buzz, walkability,
13:36and flexible adventure.
13:38Did you get your adventure?
13:38Yeah, okay, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:40It balances my nature-loving calm
13:43with Axel and Hamish's preference
13:44for some buzz and food culture.
13:46You can stay in a boutique Airbnb
13:48or a stylish villa in Frum Kull,
13:50I think that's how you say it,
13:51where you're walkable to restaurants
13:53but still surrounded by oceans and hills.
13:55Activities like vada walks,
13:57coastal drives, dolphin boat tours,
14:00hold on, I am such a dolphin girl.
14:01I'm a big dolphin girl here.
14:03Or wine tasting hits on everyone's interest
14:06without requiring much effort
14:07and the island is beautiful for daytime filming.
14:10There you go, look, warm and swimmable enough
14:11but also scenic.
14:12Stunning, stunning.
14:12I get the swimming, you get the scenic.
14:14Okay, I think that's pretty much everything we wanted.
14:16I like that it's given this layout of key wins
14:18based on your answer
14:19and it's given us one small con
14:21which is that beaches are rocky lava pools.
14:25Lava pool?
14:26I'm okay with that.
14:27What's a lava pool?
14:28I said I wanted it to be warm.
14:29That would be hot, as you said.
14:31It would be hot.
14:31It would be hot.
14:32All right, well, let's have a little look
14:34at Madeira ourselves
14:34and see what we think.
14:36In the next episode,
14:37we'll be planning out our itinerary for the trip
14:39using different AI travel agents.
14:41So make sure to tune in next time
14:42to find out what AI has us do in Madeira.
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