Artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted travel often has a goal of finding cheaper flight tickets and affordable accommodation options. Recently, however, an acquaintance of mine living in Seattle reached out asking for advice on planning her upcoming trip to Korea. She confessed to relying heavily on generative AI. Seeking an immersive “time-travel” itinerary back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, she asked Google Gemini to craft a tight, one-day historical tour through Seoul for around 200,000 won ($150). Before leaving an overseas visitor to navigate the capital based on the whims of an algorithm, The Korea Times set out to field-test the AI-recommended itinerary. The core question: Can AI make an itinerary that can capture the spirit and subtle nuances of local history, or does it merely stitch together facts without understanding real-world urban realities? While the model displayed impressive spatial efficiency and a strong grasp of overarching narratives, it faltered when confronted with the shifting tides of street-level trends and deep culinary history. Morning at Deok
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