Newsletter from The Neural Medwork: Issue 16 (Travel Edition)

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Abstract:

Welcome to the 16th edition of the Neural Medwork Newsletter.  Normally our focus is on decoding and understanding AI in the context of healthcare and medicine, but today I want to talk about a much more personal and practical aspect of how AI can enhance our lives.

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You see, over the past 2.5 weeks, I was on vacation in Greece with my wife and two young kids (3 and 1). Most families with young kids opt for low-key vacation experiences but my wife and I have always loved travelling so for the first time we decided to take a trans-Atlantic flight with two young kids to explore the wonderful sights and sounds of Greece. Now, if any of you have ever travelled with young kids, you know what an adventure that can be with jetlag, a change in routine, and all the challenges that come with being away from the comforts of your home. 

We chose Greece because our kids love being outdoors, and we had heard such wonderful things about the beaches, weather, and culture. After speaking to a friend of mine (thanks Pete!) from the hospital we decided we would spend the trip in Athens, Rhodes, Kos, and Crete so that we could see a multitude of beaches, and islands and soak in a more holistic experience of the country. With our busy schedules, other than booking our flights and Airbnb’s we didn’t plan much else before getting on a plane. So, how did we manage to pull this off and make it a memorable experience for all of us? Well, safe to say ChatGPT was a life-saver. From helping me operate appliances, to planning our days and troubleshooting technical difficulties it was there with us every step of the way.

Right off the bat after a 10-hour flight to Athens and an evening strolling the city we realized the kids had already gone through a whole bunch of outfits. One of the perks of living in Airbnbs is having access to laundry, except this time when I went to use our machine I realized all the knobs were in Greek! Safe to say that I didn’t have a clue on how to operate the machine so instead of looking for a manual, or messaging the host, I simply took advantage of ChatGPT’s vision. I snapped a picture of the machine and simply asked ChatGPT to translate all the settings, and within 30 seconds I had the two-in-one washer and dryer up and running and I could just jump into bed after being up and about for nearly 24 hours! In fact, all throughout the trip I took advantage of ChatGPT’s vision. From translating signs at monuments to reading menus in restaurants I found it quite easy and efficient to snap pictures and have ChatGPT translate the content. I was actually quite surprised at how well the app worked even on remote islands where I only had a few bars of reception and 4G service. In fact, in some areas it was harder to have Google Maps work due to poor reception than it was to have ChatGPT help me out with a question! 

Apart from the daily translating services it provided, ChatGPT was also extremely helpful in planning our days. As I had mentioned, we had only really decided on which cities we were going to visit, never the actual activities we wanted to do. In fact, I chose those cities just based on a general recommendation my friend gave me without knowing details of what the best places to visit in those towns would be. So I told ChatGPT that it was an expert travel advisor from Greece and gave it details about the types of activities we were interested in, and how we generally wanted to structure our day. For example, for those of you with little kids, know how important it is to set aside time for naps and frequent snacks and meals. I told it that if it recommended beaches I was looking for ones that were sandy, instead of rocky, quiet, instead of busy, and close to restaurants, instead of isolated. I told it I wanted to limit my drives to 30 minutes or less and that my kids loved animals, sand, and generally anything that involved being outdoors. Each day ChatGPT looked at my requests and gave me multiple potential itineraries based on the requirements I had put in and the results were amazing. ChatGPT found us some of the best sandy beaches that were close to where we lived and would suggest amazing and quaint experiences. For example, in Kos, it suggested a day where we started out at a beautiful beach called Tigaki which was perfect for the kids with clear, shallow water and white sand, and then made our way in the evening to a picturesque village called Zia which was only 15 minutes away and offered some of the best views on the island and even had a small natural park with animals and a playground. As great as ChatGPT was in planning our days I must add one small caveat. In our final stay in Crete, it suggested we visit Balos Bay to enjoy one of the most picturesque beaches in Greece but it failed to mention that to get to the beach we actually needed to do a challenging 1.5 km hike up and down a mountain. Of course, with two small kids, it would’ve been nice to know the adventure we were getting into before we arrived at the parking lot on top of a mountain but we managed to make the trek and found it to be one of the most rewarding experiences of our entire trip. Just goes to show that as great as these tools can be one must never always be reliant on their advice alone.

Balos Bay, Crete

As much as I love using AI in my daily life, this final practical use of ChatGPT on our trip is something I must give my wife credit for. Usually, after a busy day running around with the kids, my wife and I would typically watch some Netflix at the end of the day to unwind. While we were staying in a resort in Crete I realized that every time I would try and log in to my Netflix account it would tell me that my password was wrong. I found this quite odd because most of my passwords are auto-saved and I had already been using Netflix for many days before this happened. My wife decided to troubleshoot this by asking ChatGPT why Netflix may not be working properly where we were and lo and behold it told us that some resorts block streaming websites like Netflix to preserve their bandwidth and suggested using data instead. For someone who doesn’t often stay in resorts, I had no idea that this was a thing so I simply used my cell phone as a hotspot, and just like that, we were back up and running in no time!

Symi Island

Travelling with young kids is always an adventure but utilizing a tool like ChatGPT can help make the whole experience so much more easier and fun. We need to start thinking of AI as a practical tool which can aid us in many different aspects of our lives. As Andrew Ng says, “AI is the new electricity”, and just like electricity can be used for many different tasks, the applications for AI are also boundless. While healthcare is high-stakes and using a tool like ChatGPT has its merits and downfalls, sometimes the best way to get comfortable with a new tool is by using it in more low-stakes environments – like travel. You might be surprised at how useful it can be, and as your comfort grows, you’ll find more ways to make your life easier and more adventurous!

Sameer