Can AI help budget a family vacation?

WLWT turns to UC's Applied AI Lab director for tips

Travel season is here, and planning vacations can be time-consuming and expensive. 

WLWT asked Jeffery Shaffer, Director of the Applied AI Lab and Assistant Professor-Educator at Lindner College of Business, for advice on how to use generative AI to plan a getaway. 

Shaffer told WLWT that he thinks generative AI tools, such as Perplexity, can be a huge time-saver. 

"I'd rather go watch an episode of something on TV or go take my dog for a walk, or something else that I would enjoy much better," Shaffer said. "So, for me, it's all about what I can do with the certain amount of time that I have."

Shaffer suggested instead of treating the prompts like a search engine, to message it like you would a person. He said it is less intimidating once you understand how to work with it for your own needs. 

Read the full story on WLWT.

Featured image at top of a sylized AI chatbot. Photo/iStock/hirun

Related Stories

2

High Court offers protections for therapy speech

April 5, 2026

Jennifer Bard, a professor in the Donald P. Klekamp College of Law and the UC Department of Internal Medicine, spoke with journalists about the US Supreme Court ruling granting first amendment protections for speech offered during therapy sessions.