Expedia vet building an AI agent for business travelers

A group of longtime travel industry veterans are teaming up on a new startup called Otto that is developing an AI-powered virtual assistant for business travel booking

The seven-person startup is led by CEO Michael Gulmann, a former Expedia Group executive with nearly a decade of experience in various leadership roles, including at business travel management giant Egencia.

Key takeaways

• Otto aims to leverage large language models, such as OpenAI's GPT-4, to create a conversational chatbot that helps business travelers quickly book flights and hotels. The assistant learns users' preferences and filters options based on their calendar and other criteria;
• In addition to finding accommodations and airfare, the virtual assistant can also process payments on behalf of the user. It's designed for use both before and during a trip;
• Otto focuses on business travelers who book their own trips, rather than those who use the services of large corporate travel agencies, known as travel management companies (TMCs).

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