Anthropic’s New AI Feature Mimics Human Travel Agents

Skift Take

This is an early idea of how an AI travel agent could look. As the tech advances, users could bypass online travel agencies altogether.

Justin Dawes

A new piece of AI is meant to perform computer tasks — including making travel plans — the same way a human would.

Anthropic, a generative AI startup and competitor to OpenAI, released an early version of a feature that it says can complete tasks like by “looking at a screen, moving a cursor, clicking buttons, and typing text.” 

Anthropic is the company behind the generative AI search engine Claude and it released three demonstrations of the tech on Tuesday. One of them was for making travel plans — a common demo that competitors OpenAI and Google have also leaned on when showing how their AI works. 

“Instead of making specific tools to help Claude complete individual tasks, we’re teaching it general computer skills — allowing it to use a wide range of standard tools and software programs designed for people. Developers can use this nascent capability to automate repetitive processes, build and test software, and conduct open-ended tasks like research,” the company said in a statement.

A beta version of the feature — which the company said has plenty of bugs — is available for developers to test and provide feedback. 

Anthropic is reportedly in talks to raise a round of capital at a valuation of between $30 billion and $40 billion. The company has raised nearly $8 billion so far at a valuation of $18.4 billion. OpenAI earlier this month completed a deal that valued the company at $157 billion. 

An AI Agent for Travel?

This new tech shows an early version of how an AI-powered travel agent could look.

A more advanced version of this tech could eliminate the friction of manually navigating options, comparing prices, and making reservations. As the technology improves, users might bypass online travel agencies like Booking.com altogether, relying on AI to find the best deals on their behalf. This could reduce the traffic to agency websites and commissions that they rely on.

Alex Bainbridge, CEO of Autoura, has already tried a developer demo, as he outlined in a post on LinkedIn. Autoura is a robotaxi tour operator and also offers an AI-powered tour guide platform to sightseeing companies. 

Bainbridge used the demo to find and select a tour in Rome through GetYourGuide. 

“I wanted to see if the tech announced yesterday lives up to the vision that AI agents will, on behalf of consumers, browse the web, select products (based on preferences), and then book, all with zero consumer interaction,” Bainbridge stated in the post.

There were some problems. “But it is amazing for day 1,” he said. “Yes, this reinforces my view that AI agents will be the new web user experience. (And that OTAs are in big trouble here).”

How it Works

The demo shows an Anthropic researcher, using a Macbook computer, instruct the AI to help with tourism plans for a day in San Francisco. 

The prompt from the demo: “My friend is coming to San Francisco and I want to watch the sunrise with him at the Golden Gate Bridge tomorrow morning. We’ll be coming from Pacific Heights. Could you find us a great viewing spot, check the drive time and sunrise time, then set up a calendar event that gives us enough time to get there?”

The AI then takes control of the computer, dragging the cursor and clicking and typing to complete the request. The user watches as the AI performs the tasks. In a corresponding window on the left side of the screen, the AI describes in detail each step it’s taking. Here’s everything the AI does in the demo:

• Completes a Google search for the best sunrise viewing spots
• Clicks on a blog about the topic
• Reads the blog to determine Battery Spencer as the best viewing spot
• Opens Apple Maps desktop app
• Completes a search for directions from Pacific Heights to Battery Spencer, showing a driving time of 21 minutes
• Opens a new Chrome tab 
• Completes a Google search to check the next day’s sunrise time of 7:22 a.m.
• Open the Apple Calendar desktop app 
• Creates an hourlong calendar event at 7:22 a.m. 
• Writes a note in the event: “Leave Pacific Heights by 6:45 a.m. to arrive with time to park and set up before sunrise. Drive time is approximately 20 minutes to Battery Spencer. Bring warm layers as it can be chilly in the morning.”