Skift Take

As the big tech companies reveal what they've been working on in travel, it raises questions about the longevity of small companies that have been working on similar projects.

Series: Travel Tech Briefing

Travel Tech Briefing

Editor’s Note: Exclusive reporting on technology’s impact on the travel industry, delivered every Thursday. The briefing will guide executives as they decide if their companies should “build, buy, or partner” to stay ahead.

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The first generative AI chatbot was released almost a year ago, and there's been a lot of talk since then about how it could impact travel.

It's been mostly talk because companies have needed time to advance the technology and build applications. While there's still uncertainty, the picture is becoming clearer as big tech companies are starting to reveal more about their generative AI projects.

There has been a travel component to many big product releases related to generative AI this year, and it's happening more frequently. There were big reveals just in the past couple of weeks from three big tech companies: Amazon Web Services, Meta, and Microsoft.   

Amazon Web Services: For Building AI Tools

While there are multiple startups emerging offering AI tools to hotels and other hospitality companies, those travel companies may opt to develop their own tools. 

Amazon Web Services says it can help with a platform to make generative AI tools without the need for coding by software developers. AWS recently made that platform, called Amazon Bedrock, generally available. 

This is one way some of the smaller companies can participate in the AI bandwagon without a large investment. 

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