In early 2024, Dublin City Council and ChatGPT creator, OpenAI formed a partnership as a part of the European Capital of Smart Tourism program. The goal of this collaboration was to assist in creating real-world AI applications and examples in the tourism industry, as well as to bring together influential decision-makers from Ireland and throughout Europe to get firsthand knowledge about AI.
In September, Dublin City Council, and OpenAI organised a joint workshop hosting tourism leaders from across Ireland, the UK, and the EU. This workshop offered European cities a chance to explore the possible impact AI can have on the sector and understand how AI can play a role in developing new personalised experiences for their visitors.
During the two-day event, a series of workshops demonstrated real-world practical applications of AI for tourism providing destination leaders the opportunity to learn from each other and gain insight into emerging innovation in this area.
A Day in Dublin
45 tourism leaders attended with presenters including engineers and senior team members from OpenAI as well as contributors from Dublin City Council – Barry Rogers from the Dublin City Tourism Unit who worked closely with Rudi O’Reilly Meehan, CEO, Data and Design to develop the AI-powered prototype ‘A Day in Dublin’. This tourism prototype is an example of an itinerary generator that utilises ChatGPT’s most recent version.
Artificial intelligence’s effects on tourism were the topic of Dana Omran’s fireside talk, which was joined by Jamie Cudden, Dublin City Council Smart City Lead, Lane Dilg, Open AI, and David Power from Dogpatch Labs. Dilg remarked how she is excited about the possibilities OpenAI can bring about for the travel industry, commenting “developers will do great things with Open AI to create new experiences and create a new understanding of places and communities”
On opening the fireside talk held at Dogpatch Labs, the Lord Mayor of Dublin James Geoghegan explained how Dublin sees its role as an accelerator for start-up businesses and hopes to do more to encourage an environment for start-ups.
The second day of the workshop involved several presentations from companies and organisations leading the way in the use of AI within smart tourism platforms and applications. Some solutions presented included products from Cityme, a digital tourguiding app, and Booking.com who shared how they use AI within their own online booking platform.
Dublin is unique as the first European location for OpenAI offices. This creates an opportunity for the city to further cultivate an innovative culture, with the Smart Tourism Workshop serving as just one example.