Artificial intelligence will likely become a growing part of Ireland’s hospitality sector – but it won’t follow every request. 

Technology expert Paul Armstrong is due to speak at the annual Irish Hospitality Prospectives Conference about the role AI can play in hotels, restaurants and across the sector. 

“There’s a lot of routes that hospitality can take - that's the joy of AI,” he told The Pat Kenny Show. 

“There's lots of elements to look at – not just the ChatGPT.” 

Mr Armstrong said many people don’t realise the true potential of AI in customer service in particular. 

“Often people thinkk chatbots can take away from a customer experience,” he said. 

“But actually, a lot of customers can get the information they do need, if it’s well done. 

“They are getting incredibly smart – they can pick up on intonation and specific combination of words. 

“It's not to dupe people – it's to help them get a better experience at the end of the day.” 

A 'force for good'

Teasing out the limits of AI in hospital, host Pat Kenny mentioned several Radisson Blue hotels in the UK have introduced a “virtual concierge” named Edward that responds to queries “within seconds”. 

“I'm not sure whether Edward would provide cocaine or hookers,” he said.

“But Edward is there available to satisfy the whims of most customers.” 

Discussing the moral limits of hospitality AI, Mr Armstrong said it is mainly a “force for good”. 

“You can have any chatbot out there create some of the simplest things for people to do, all the way down to higher end needs,” he said. 

“I wouldn't say anyone is doing what you suggested, but the potential is definitely out there."

Robot waiter serving food at modern restaurant. Image: Irina Velichkina / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr Armstrong said one of the main concerns of AI is rightfully the motives behind those who make it. 

“It does sort of get a bit dicey when it comes to who is creating these tools – what are their ethics, what did they train their data on,” he said. 

He explained an example of an AI soap dispenser that was trained only using white hands, meaning it did not recognise Black people. 

“That’s not fair, that’s not right,” Mr Armstrong said. 

“It's easily fixable, but it does impact your Yelp score... it’s about knowing who’s coding your AI.”