I was forwarded a great blog post from Julia Villagra, Chief People Officer at OpenAI who recently wrote about the sensory future of human intelligence—how movement, smell, taste, vision, and hearing will define us as people, while AI will dominate fields like math and science. This aligns perfectly with what we at TravelAI believe:
We believe we travel to engage in sensory experiences.
We don’t travel to solve equations or optimize spreadsheets—we travel to hear new languages, taste unfamiliar foods, see turquoise waters, and feel the warmth of the sun in a place we’ve never been.
Real travel tickles the senses.
As AI evolves, it will enhance travel efficiency, handling transactions, search, and logistics. But what remains uniquely human is the desire to experience the world in ways that can’t be digitized.
In her post, Julia also highlights a second transformation, writing…
“If eventually every thumb-to-screen or finger-to-keyboard interaction we have with our devices is replaced by operators and voice-controlled prompts, we will have the opportunity to reimagine how we engage with the physical world around us.”
I wrote a few weeks ago about what I was calling The Third Voice and what we are building at TravelAI.
The Third Voice is not a travel concierge or chat app within which the AI is assisting you—it’s AI advocating for you.
It’s not just surfacing information—it’s negotiating, optimizing, and curating.
The Third Voice won’t just answer your questions—it asks the right ones on your behalf.
In the coming years, search will be replaced by action. You won’t sift through hundreds of hotel listings. Your AI agent will find the best one for you, at the best price, and book it.
The Third Voice will interact on your behalf, ensuring travel is not just easier but better. We are about creating better memories after all.
The question isn’t who will own this shift. The real question is: Will the Third Voice serve travelers, or will it serve the incumbents?
At TravelAI, we believe it should serve you.
John Lyotier, CEO, TravelAI
