Travel

By Alex Mitchell and Eric Hegedus

Would you fly AI?

Qatar Airways is including digital flight attendants as “digital human cabin crew” to help clients at airports and onboard planes.

Named Sama 2.0, the feminine fake staffer was rolled out at this week’s large ITB Berlin commerce present. The airline demonstrated {that a} buyer can converse into one’s telephone with Sama answering on a big kiosk-like display screen, video reveals.

The airline claims that the digital cabin crew member — additionally accessible by way of its metaverse, referred to as the Qverse, and the Qatar app — is the first AI-powered buyer help of its sort.

Statements from the airline and developer UneeQ declare that the digital helper — whose identify means “sky” in Arabic — blends “technology with empathy and personalization” and provides “engaging interactions that mirror human conversation.”

It is designed to be taught from buyer habits by way of “comprehensive visual interactions” to “assist its passengers in designing curated travel experiences.”

Flyers can profit from Sama by tapping into Qatar’s Qverse. From there, the digital helper can, as an example, information passengers by way of 3D-mapped renderings of airports and reply travel-related questions on baggage, check-in and extra in actual time as they’re typed or spoken right into a chat module.

The assistant is presently English-speaking solely however is deliberate to have fluency in different languages, together with Arabic, by later this 12 months.

“This is a monumental point in spearheading the successful synergy between technology and human connection – not only for Qatar Airways but also for the industry at large,” firm Marketing Vice President Babar Rahman mentioned, including that the interactions could be “approachable and friendly.”