All aboard the high speed AI train
Don’t worry, you’ve still got time to get to grips with AI, but don’t leave it too late, warns Scott Davies, Chief Executive Officer, ITM
Can I have a quiet word? Just you and me? Do you think you understand and are utilising AI as much as everyone else is? I promise I won’t tell.
In a recent (anonymous) ITM survey, just 15% of travel managers said they were deploying cutting edge AI applications in their travel programme. It would appear everyone thinks everyone else is doing it, but they’re not really doing it either. Yet.
The current rate of acceleration is like nothing we’ve seen before, with smart, creative and disruptive tools emerging daily. I think we’re also about to see a much-needed revolution in AI learning and development, which should help to level set and make practical AI practitioners of us all.
Travel buyers tell us they are being directed by their senior leadership to adopt and exploit AI, but often without the corresponding guidance as to where and/or why. There is no doubt that, at enterprise level, the ability to weald AI to generate efficiencies, speed up and improve decision-making and deliver quality information and service to customers is already a transformational competitive differentiator.
There is, of course, the spectre of other, less fun dynamics at play, including justifiable security considerations and the personal concern of impact on jobs.
In previous tech revolutions, it has often paid to be a pioneering trailblazer, while sometimes it may have been best to watch, wait and learn lessons. I don’t think this is one of those latter moments, friends.
AI may not replace your role in travel per se but those who don’t learn how to unleash the full potential of AI will be replaced as some point. 2026 is the year of the AI native!
