Is AI the Weekend Adventurer’s New Best Friend?

Outside Podcast

Sports, Wilderness

4.4 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 February 2020

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Backpacker editor Zoe Gates sets off to discover if chatbots are the solution to our trip-planning woes. Preparing for wilderness excursions can be frustrating, even for seasoned adventurers. Tsunamis of online information—conflicting top ten lists, distracting ads, and trip reports of varying quality—can stand between you and getting out the door. Artificial intelligence tools claim to deliver detailed travel itineraries in response to just a single question, but can a robot really design a safe, worthwhile adventure? In an effort to simplify her weekend excursions, Zoe experiments with Outside’s in-development chatbot, Scout—and is totally at the whims of her computer.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought you by Hydroflask,
0:05.0	maker of Go Anywhere Drink Wearing Coolers that are the easiest gifts ever. Hey, how's it going to go on?
0:15.0	Hey, Marin, how's it going?
0:17.0	Good, but, uh, are we meeting now?
0:20.0	It looks like you're wrapping gifts?
0:22.0	Oh, I'm basically done.
0:24.0	This takes no time.
0:25.0	Okay, but you do realize that anyone can tell those are
0:29.0	hydroflask bottles, right?
0:31.0	The wrapping paper doesn't really hide anything. I mean, why hide it? Everyone I know
0:35.4	loves hydroflask stainless steel water bottles. They're super durable and designed to keep
0:39.9	their contents at the perfect temperature all day long.
0:43.2	Does that mean that a certain colleague of yours might be getting one this year?
0:46.7	No, no.
0:47.7	Gifts are supposed to be surprises, right?
0:49.8	Mm-hmm, sure.
0:52.0	Wrap up your holiday shopping early this year with the Sure. From Outside magazine, this is the Outside Podcast.
1:07.0	This is the Outside podcast. The staff here at Outside is full of experienced outdoors people,
1:22.0	passionate hikers, climbers, skiers, and all kinds of people who just generally want to spend as much time out in nature as they possibly can.
1:32.0	Over time, these pursuits will turn any... out in nature as they possibly can.
1:32.8	Over time, these pursuits will turn anyone into a pretty good trip planner,
1:37.5	capable of conjuring up an adventure on short notice.
	...

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