AI Should Never Erase Human Expertise

I reached out recently to Alexandra from ArtTrav — someone whose work I've admired for years. She's one of those rare people who doesn't just write about Italy; she lives it, breathes it, and carries it with a kind of grounded authority you can't fake.

I shared Lucia with her — my clarity‑first Italy trip‑planning concierge — and asked if she'd be open to exploring a small collaboration. Nothing pushy. Just an invitation.

She tested Lucia and wrote back with a message that stopped me for a moment.

She told me she found the tool interesting, even impressive. But she also told me something harder: she couldn't support it. Not because she disliked it, but because if AI travel assistants ever became too accurate, several of her close friends — real people with real lives — could lose their jobs. She reminded me that lived experience matters. That is not everything is searchable. That helping a traveler in a wheelchair navigate Florence, or guiding a celiac traveler safely through a city, requires human judgment and years of being on the ground.

Her honesty hit me in a way I didn't expect.

I wrote back and told her the truth: Lucia was never meant to replace people like her. She's a starting point — a way to help travelers who might never think to hire a guide at all. My hope is that she actually leads more people toward deeper, more personal advice from locals, not away from it.

I told her I respected her perspective. Because I did. And I still do.

This exchange stayed with me. It reminded me that building tools like Lucia isn't just about features or accuracy or clever prompts. It's about people. It's about the humans whose work, passion, and lived experience shape the places we love.

AI should never erase that.
If anything, it should shine a light on it.

And I'm grateful Alexandra trusted me enough to say what she really felt.

If you’re planning a trip to Italy and want guidance built on these principles, you can start here with our trust-first Italy planning approach.