Woman’s AI-generated itinerary for 12-day solo Vietnam trip goes viral on TikTok
By Ryan General
A Singaporean woman has gone viral on TikTok for using artificial intelligence (AI) to plan her 12-day solo trip to Hanoi, Vietnam.
The woman, known as Mel, fed the details of her preferred places to visit and her chosen arrival and return dates to the Notion AI writing assistant. As shown in the video, the AI tool immediately provided Mel with a basic itinerary, complete with suggested sights on the days she requested.
For her first day, the AI planned basic activities such as “Check in to hotel” before suggesting places to visit with the entries “Explore Old Quarter” and “Visit Hoan Kiem Lake.” The second day featured even more attractions to visit.
It was apparent in the itinerary that the AI bot made sure not to pack the schedule on days that would involve traveling between cities.
“I was honestly surprised that [the tool] planned out a day-by-day schedule,” Mel, 28, told AsiaOne.
Upon closer inspection, the itinerary is not very detailed, with most suggested activities for each day involving checking into hotels and exploring one or two locations.
For Days 10 and 11, the AI only had three suggested activities, two of which included hitting up food spots.
The bot also included a couple of stops in Hoi An city, which is a 14.5-hour drive away from Hanoi. The recommendation to visit Ba Na Hills is also ill-advised as it is already near Da Nang, which is located further down south.
Despite these apparent missteps, the itinerary was considered by many to be a sufficient baseline, as indicated by the hundreds of comments and over 1.7 million views.
“The way my mouth just dropped watching this video 😳,” one impressed commenter wrote.
“Wait, I need this,” commented another. “I’ve been wanting to go to Vietnam for the first time since I was born ☺️.”
Other commenters pointed out the inaccuracies to Mel and suggested better places to visit while in Hanoi.
“Day 11: Hanoi and Hoian are super far away from each other,” one user remarked.
“Day 8 (Ba Na Hills) and Day 11 Hoi An 😳😳😳 are places one would go if they travel to Danang, not Hanoi,” wrote another.
“FYI: Ha Long Bay is hard to do as a day trip and the train street is closed now,” chimed in a user.
“It’s better to make your own. You have to consider proximity, transportation and opening/closing hours,” one suggested.
In response to commenters who were concerned that publishing her itinerary could be dangerous, Mel assured them that she is not actually following the AI-generated plan exactly the way it was made.
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