MY BIG FAT AI HOLIDAY

Artificial intelligence is everywhere these days, but can you really use it to pick a perfect touring holiday? To find out, Peter Rosenthal entrusted all his holiday decisions to Al...

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As a journalist, I’m surrounded by deadlines. Every part of my working life is framed with a deadline. As many as 10 a week is not uncommon. And to paraphrase my favourite author, Douglas Adams, “I love the noise deadlines make as they whoosh by.” So when it comes to my leisure time, the last thing I want to have to deal with is a deadline.

Having to take your hotel breakfast before 9am. Only being able to catch a bus at 1.37pm. Most of all, I hate pre-booking and planning holidays. Having to be in place X for time Y fills me with dread. While some people - I call them The Organised People - love nothing better than burying their heads into a mound of OS maps and pre-booking their 2027 holiday in minute detail, that is not for me. I don’t even like pre-booking taxis on a night out.

Campervans and leisure vehicles to me, are all about spontaneity - the freedom to roam where the sun is. Turning up an interesting road to see what's at the end. The delight of a scenic vista or a traditional pub without being limited by a rigid schedule. Pre-planning neuters the joy of an unexpected treat. Being in a campervan means you always know where you're sleeping, so why worry about being in place X or place Y?

So for a week away in summer - crucially with my wife Helen’s permission - I decided to relinquish all holiday control to AI. A multitude of AI programs already control much of our daily lives seamlessly, so it seems a logical step. After all, AI has probably served up this very feature to you on social media. As AI already surrounds us, why not take advantage of it? One of my friends suggested I get AI to write this whole feature. "but you'll probably get rumbled because it will be written better..."