Jorge Coromina

Artificial Intelligence: plugins for tourism are on the way

Microsoft continues to make rapid progress in integrating OpenAI's artificial intelligence technology into its portfolio of products and services.

Among the many announcements made at last week's Microsoft Build 2023 developer conference was the news that artificial intelligence plugins - such as those already enabled in ChatGPT - are now operational across all Microsoft products, including the Bing search platform, and new plugins are being developed for travel brands Tripadvisor, Trip.com, Skyscanner, Fareportal and Spotnana. 

The plugins connect large language models, such as those used by ChatGPT or Bing Chat, to third-party data sources, allowing them to retrieve information in real time to respond to user queries and assist with actions such as booking travel.

Microsoft is adopting the same open plugin standard that OpenAI introduced for ChatGPT in March, so plugins built on the standard are interoperable across the Microsoft and OpenAI ecosystems. Expedia and Kayak were two of the first brands to launch plugins for ChatGPT, which will now also be accessible through Microsoft.

In a statement about the updates, Microsoft said: "Developers can now use one platform to create plugins that work on both consumer and business surfaces, including ChatGPT, Bing, Dynamics 365 Copilot (in preview) and Microsoft 365 Copilot (in preview). If users want to develop and use their own plugins with their AI application built on Azure OpenAI Service, it will, by default, be interoperable with this same plugin standard. This means developers can create experiences that allow people to interact with their applications using the most natural user interface: human language."

Microsoft says the new plugins - more than 50 of them - will be rolled out in the coming weeks.

With the plugins integrated into chat on both desktop and mobile, Bing makes relevant recommendations based on the conversation. For example, you can use the OpenTable plugin to ask about restaurants or related topics. This becomes even more powerful on mobile when you're on the go with Bing's mobile app. 

The Tripadvisor add-on will help hundreds of millions of people each month become better travellers by leveraging the world's largest travel guidance platform.

In other news from the Build event, Microsoft has created a fix for one of the biggest criticisms directed at ChatGPT: that its awareness is only current until September 2021.

Starting now for ChatGPT Plus subscribers and soon for everyone, users can choose to "Search with Bing" in the chat platform. With Bing as the default search experience, the system can access up-to-date information from all over the web.

Aside from Microsoft's announcements last week, several new travel brands have recently enabled plugins in ChatGPT, including Turo, Klook, GetYourGuide and Trip.com. In February, Trip.com became one of the first companies to create a conversational chatbot within its application based on an OpenAI API.

And last week Google announced substantial updates to its generative AI-based search and marketing tools. Google's new Search Generative Experience (SGE) is able to respond to longer, multi-step searches with information and links from multiple sources.