• Visit Colorado Springs launched an AI-powered chat feature, “Penny the Pika,” in partnership with Matador Network’s GuideGeek to assist travelers.
• The AI provides real-time information in 50 languages and offers trip planning support and localized recommendations.
• The AI was specifically trained to prioritize sustainability and recommend lesser-known outdoor activities to manage crowding and visitor impact.
• The technology’s design uses existing website content, which helps tremendously reduce the associated energy usage of the large language model.

Visit Colorado Springs has partnered with Matador Network’s GuideGeek to introduce an AI-powered chat feature named “Penny the Pika” on its official tourism website, VisitCOS.com. The feature aims to streamline trip planning by offering real-time answers to visitor questions, and has already helped 5,000 users with nearly 10,000 messages since its launch a few months ago.

Penny the Pika utilizes data from the Visit COS website and GuideGeek’s extensive travel sources, providing responses in 50 different languages. The tool assists with questions related to itinerary prompts, packing suggestions, and regional business information. The Visit COS team collaborated closely with GuideGeek staff to train the AI, ensuring its alignment with the organization’s brand voice and key priorities.

A significant focus during the AI training was sustainability. The tool is specifically equipped with information on Leave No Trace principles and is designed to recommend lesser-known and less-trafficked outdoor activities as alternatives to potentially crowded popular sites. This strategy helps promote broader use of parks and trails while reducing visitor impact. GuideGeek noted that using existing website content to train the AI substantially reduces the energy usage and carbon emissions associated with programming a full large language model.