Once upon a time, there were imagination, blurry photos of friends, images from catalogs, a few TV documentaries and then fantasy, that generated a mental image of our dreams destination. There was the anticipation of the unknown, of reality as we had imagined it, the adrenaline rush of discovering a place we had only glimpsed.
I come from the era of phone booths, VCRs, cassettes, and analog cameras: I have already written an article about the beauty of analog world. I have always been a person with a boundless imagination. Imagining what I didn’t know has always been a stimulus to fuel my dreams.
In a short time, we have witnessed a U-turn. It seems there is no place for imagination in the modern world. It seems that everything is subject to the laws of AI, the “artificial intelligence” which, in a matter of seconds, “can” create places, emotions, anything that you ask. But at what price? AI demands humanity in exchange, the beauty of achieving something independently, the beauty of discovery, the beauty of thinking, of waiting, the beauty to imagine, the warmth of having a person in front of you who looks you in the eye, interacts with you, and conveys their emotions.
AI and travel
So in the modern world, even in the travel sector, we increasingly encounter AI assistants, virtual “consultants” “consulted” to plan personalized itineraries based on tastes, available time, and budget. Even before we get to the planning stage, immersive technologies like virtual tours, augmented reality, and metaverse settings allow you to explore destinations even before you leave.
Planning a trip in front of a computer screen is a habit that is “infecting” an ever-increasing number of people who feel they are reducing the effort and time required to complete the booking.
It isn’t always up-to-date
First of all, it must be considered that AI draws on the myriad of information found online, which therefore, in order to be 100% reliable should be constantly updated and accessible. AI is a powerful tool, but not magical. It can only reprocess what it finds in the crowd. Artificial intelligence isn’t always up-to-date: it’s always best to verify with further research. Furthermore, it also shows several shortcomings regarding more remote and lesser-known realities: it’s essential to always have a charged phone and an internet connection.
Thus, you can also stumble upon destinations that don’t exist through generative photography, that is, a photo of a place generated by artificial intelligence, a place that seems real in every way, but that in reality is very different.
On the other hand, already with social media, the line separating the true from the plausible is increasingly evanescent and blurred. Just think of all the times a filter is used, or a part of the landscape that doesn’t appeal or doesn’t seem cool enough is cut out, or the very desire to show only what is beautiful, fun, and enviable. People want to show a perfect world, but that is virtual.
Temporary euphoria
Of course, by asking the right questions, artificial intelligence might even pull a rabbit out of the hat: the destination of the heart. But after the initial moments of euphoria, it ends there, because only those who have been there, those who have lived in a certain place, only those who have come into contact with local people, tasted delicious foods and other decidedly absurd ones, lost themselves in the markets and medinas, and listened to the desert dunes sing, the Northern Lights dance across the sky… only those who have experienced all this firsthand and absorbed the world osmotically can truly convey what it means to live those experiences, through the totally human gift of empathy.
To take a step forward, we must step back and have the courage to choose the truth: that of the real world, where a destination is chosen, studied, imagined, discovered, leafing through a paper guide, listening to friends’ advices. Be explorers, crazy, curious, hungry for emotions, dreamers, dive into the rapids of life, fly over mountains, travel as the protagonists of your own adventures.