Amex GBT Unveils Generative AI Projects: A Game-Changer for Business Travel
American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) is making waves in the tech world with its ambitious foray into generative artificial intelligence (AI). The company, which has grown into a business travel powerhouse since spinning off from American Express a decade ago, is now leveraging AI to revolutionize its operations. With $6.3 billion in business travel booked last year for employees at approximately 20,000 client companies, Amex GBT is no stranger to innovation. But this latest initiative, spearheaded by Vice President of Engineering and AI Strategy Marilyn Markham, promises to take things to the next level.
Markham, who has been leading the charge since February, is part of a cross-departmental team tasked with identifying how AI can enhance the company’s services. The team includes members from 30SecondsToFly, an AI startup acquired by Amex GBT in 2020, which is now at the forefront of engineering these groundbreaking projects.
“I think that it’s not obvious what generative AI is going to be helpful for, and we need all the people putting their minds to it,” Markham said. “I feel like we’ve done most of everything we could do with current technology, and so this opens new frontiers for us.”
First AI Project: Simplifying Travel Policies
The first major generative AI project Amex GBT is rolling out is a tool designed to help travel agents quickly understand and apply travel policies. These policies, which can span 20 pages or more, are often challenging for agents to memorize, especially when they’re managing up to 100 clients at a time.
- “Do you trust people to have 100 different travel policies in their head and know them perfectly? With generative AI, you just give it the travel policy, and you can interact with it. You can just talk to it normally,” Markham explained.
- “We found that it had tremendous accuracy. It really, really is good at finding that information.”
This tool is particularly beneficial for new hires, enabling them to get up to speed quickly and efficiently. By streamlining this process, Amex GBT is not only improving accuracy but also enhancing the overall experience for both agents and clients.
Next Up: AI-Powered Email Servicing
The second project in the pipeline focuses on email servicing. This AI tool is designed to read customer emails, extract key details such as flight, hotel, and car rental requests, and align them with the respective company’s travel policy. It then presents the top three options for the agent to review and finalize before sending the offer to the customer.
- “Today, agents have to do a lot of manual searching and re-searching, then a lot of copying and pasting in an email,” Markham said. “They don’t need to do that anymore. They get to review and curate, and have more head space to maybe personalize it.”
- “All in all, the whole thing is faster than the original, and it’s a better, more consistent experience for the traveler.”
This project underscores Amex GBT’s commitment to using AI to enhance efficiency and deliver a superior customer experience.
Building a Secure AI Ecosystem
To ensure the safe and effective use of AI, Markham began the year by drafting an AI policy for the company and establishing an AI oversight committee. This committee includes representatives from legal, privacy, compliance, HR, talent, and commercial departments, highlighting the far-reaching implications of generative AI projects.
Amex GBT has also developed a secure internal platform powered by third-party generative AI. This platform allows staff across various departments to experiment with AI while addressing data privacy concerns. Employees are prohibited from using public generative AI websites for work-related tasks.
- “Every few weeks, a team who had asked for access pops up with an awesome project that delivered lots of efficiencies, or it allowed them to do something they didn’t think they would ever get funding to be able to do,” Markham said.
- “It’s just been such an unlocker of creativity in the company.”
- “Once you get a real product idea, you go into normal product development cycles. You have to go to the product team and pitch your idea, pitch your ROI, and then get that approved.”
Markham emphasized the importance of managing expectations, noting that AI is not a “silver bullet” but rather a tool that can drive innovation and efficiency when used strategically.
Unexpected Applications: HR and Beyond
One surprising area where AI has gained traction is human resources. The HR team is exploring the use of AI for end-of-year employee surveys, which can be a daunting task given the company’s global workforce and the variety of languages spoken.
- “When you have thousands of employees around the world and they’re using different languages, it’s a lot of work. But you can ask [a large language model] to summarize the top three sentiments,” Markham said. “I wasn’t expecting HR to be such a big adopter, but they are.”
This example illustrates the versatility of AI and its potential to streamline processes across different departments.
Balancing Innovation with Cost
While the possibilities of AI are exciting, Amex GBT remains a business, and every project must have a strong business case. Generative AI can be expensive, with enterprise clients often charged per word. This cost factor has led to the discontinuation of some proofs of concept, not because they failed to deliver results, but because they were too costly to scale.
- “That’s mainly the reason why some of the [proofs of concept] did not succeed. It was not that it wasn’t able to do the job. It was because it was too expensive at our scale,” Markham explained.
The company also evaluated tools like Microsoft Copilot, which charges $30 per month per user. However, the cost of deploying such tools across Amex GBT’s 18,000 employees proved prohibitive.
- “We were not able to justify the cost. Yeah, it’s helpful. It can help you write your email a little faster. It can maybe correct your Word documents. We didn’t find that it generated good PowerPoints,” Markham said.
- “Multiplied by 18,000 people at the company, it’s becoming real money. You get into the few millions.”
Despite these challenges, Amex GBT remains committed to exploring the potential of AI while keeping a close eye on costs and scalability.
Looking Ahead
As Amex GBT continues to roll out its AI initiatives, the company is poised to set new standards in the business travel industry. By leveraging generative AI to enhance efficiency, improve customer experiences, and unlock creativity, Amex GBT is not just keeping pace with technological advancements—it’s leading the charge.
Markham’s vision and the company’s strategic approach to AI demonstrate the transformative power of this technology. While challenges remain, the potential benefits far outweigh the hurdles, making this an exciting time for Amex GBT and its clients.
Originally Written by: Justin Dawes
