Vianney Hartmann

Testing AI agents for travel

Working at Jinko, the travel integration for AI agents

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

Can AI agents plan and book our trips?

Here, I’ll share my AI agent tests, what works, where I get stuck, my thoughts, and what’s new in AI × travel

I work on travel infrastructure at @jinkohq

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

@jul1anodev Agents can handle this and present erros in the quote. That's not an issue for me

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

Personal assistants are starting to figure out travel, and users are expecting more than a list of flights or hotels

Before Jinko, our clients already had a travel API or used browser automation, but had the same problems:

• Travel APIs are built for destinations and dates. But we’re seeing that people using personal assistants want to explore where to go first, without knowing exactly what to book. A good travel assistant helps you build the whole trip. Yet some travel integrations are still built for destination and date requests, and some don’t even let users book

• Browser automation is slow and unreliable. I tested it myself, and a basic search sometimes took 12+ minutes. And you often can’t even complete the booking

That’s what we’re building @jinkohq for, helping personal assistants handle travel from the first idea to the booking

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

@ekbot_ @jinkohq super interesting, I mean you could build it on your own, but then you need social media data and how would you sort this data? sometimes it can be fake, sponsored or whatever, not trustworthy all the time

[Jinko @jinkohq]

Jinko Stories
Episode 02: I need a trip

Inspired by real trips booked through Jinko. Recreated to show what AI agents can already do.

She wants sunshine and a different culture, but has no destination in mind. Her agent helps her choose Oaxaca, finds a hotel that fits her taste, and books the trip with her approval.

Building an AI agent? Jinko provides the travel tools to make this entire search and booking flow possible.

Jinko tools in this episode: destination discovery, flight search, hotel search by preferences, and booking with checkout.

[Kevin Gauthier @kgauthier15]

I got a bunch of customers writing me today asking if we should be worried about UA bots blocking

best answer is no as you decided to work with Jinko (API) and not computer use to perform your travel bookings

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

@thecultureslop @ekuyda thx for this great event!

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

The best AI founders have a life outside their personal agent

Tell me if I’m wrong

Loved @ekuyda’s talk at @thecultureslop
Art, surfing, books… I think what founders care about outside work comes through in what they build

That’s the feeling I got with Wabi

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

Personal agent
Personal assistant
AI agent
AI assistant
AI companion
Virtual assistant
...

So many ways to talk about the same thing. What's the difference and why don't we just use one term?

[Jinko @jinkohq]

Travel is sexy in the AI agent industry

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

I really wondered if this AI was real at some point

Nuance Labs went crazy for this

Go try it ASAP if you didn’t

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

this

[David Pawlan @DavidPawlan]

OpenAI didn't just acquire a startup, they acquired a software-enabled travel agency

and it makes sense why

when i tested every agent on travel, Dots was one of the worst. 33 minutes to get from flight search to checkout!

travel is the hottest vertical in personal AI agents, and OpenAI just told the world they're here to compete

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

Let's go!! Starting a new format: taking real life cases we got at Jinko of people planning trips

I put it in a cool format and changed names and some infos but I think it's cool!

[Jinko @jinkohq]

Introducing Jinko Stories

Everyday stories exploring how AI agents can use Jinko.

Episode 01: The trip finally left the group chat.

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

@alexandr_wang @twin_labs did it before!

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

This is Tolan to a next Black Mirror level

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

The first AI persona you’ll actually want to meet face-to-face.

Most AI personas stare blankly while you talk. Emma reacts while you’re still speaking.

After 18 months of research at @nuance_ai, this is Emma, built on Nuplex, our full-duplex audiovisual foundation model.

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

growth is hard on X

but managed to make 15x followers in 25days

working hard on this!

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

@ebloch That could be really cool, especially if I don't even have to ask for a trip. If my agent knows I have a free weekend, the budget for it and somewhere I've been wanting to go, it could just suggest something that makes sense for me

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

@vikramchopra I totally agree, I'd happily let an agent figure out the layovers and compare all the flight options for me. Once all of that is automated, booking a trip will be so much easier, and it's honestly surprising this isn't already how we do it

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

@evnsio @OpenAI I'd still double check things today, especially when I'm asking an agent to handle a trip with lots of specific details. Getting all of that right isn't easy, but I agree that catching small mistakes between bookings is already really useful

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

@CoolestAK87 I agree, I still want to look at the places and choose where I'm staying, but I don't want to read all the cancellation policies. I just want the agent to tell me what I need to know before I book

[Vianney Hartmann @Vian_hrtm]

@DavidPawlan Travel requests!