Scare tourism consists of traveling to a destination for Halloween entertainment such as an amusement park or … [+]
In today’s column, I discuss the growing trend of scream tourism and explain how generative AI fits into this seasonal Halloween phenomenon. If you are perhaps faint of heart or easily frightened, don’t worry, nothing here will suddenly jump out at you in a spooky way. I will make sure to cover the topic in an engaging but not shocking way.
My ongoing Forbes.com column shows how AI and especially generative AI can have an impact on all aspects of our daily lives (see link here).
Let’s see what the deal is about screaming tourism and generating AI.
Going out of your way to visit haunted amusements
Most people are likely to stay local during the Halloween time period and get their scares filled with fun by going to a nearby house that has been equipped with creepy crawlies and ghostly figures. Sometimes, a community pumpkin patch will build a little scary structure or have an exciting range of scares for the kids to enjoy. Few people would think much of going to any apparent distance just to celebrate Halloween-like goals.
Well, times are changing.
A host of large-scale amusement parks and attractions are all in the business of attracting tourists these days by decorating and celebrating for the Halloween season. Every year, this seems to grow by leaps and bounds. The start dates for these celebrations now often start in the first week or two of September. September this year had Friday the 13thth (September 13, 2024), so many businesses chose to launch their spooky events and spooky decorations on that glorious day.
These expensive amusement parks and attractions rely on more than just locals showing up. They want tourists to fly in, drive in, take the train, bus, cruise ship or get there however possible. The cool thing, too, is that out-of-towners often spend more on Halloween decorations than locals. Once people get into a tourist mode, their wallets and pockets open up.
What catchphrase can we give to the act of eager tourists who are willing to travel far and wide to get their scares and thrills?
Scream tourism.
Boom, drop the mic.
The logistics needed to get a good scare
One of the ways that generative artificial intelligence joins the boom tourism phenomenon is through figuring out the logistics of making such a trip.
Of course, you can go the old fashioned route of simply searching the internet in general for scary fun attractions, plus allied or nearby hotels, transportation options, etc. The heavy lifting is completely on your shoulders. I wish you luck.
Another option is to consult a human travel agent. Believe it or not, travel agents still exist. You see, in a bygone era, travel agents were as numerous as gas stations on every corner. Not anymore. However, they are still available. Please consider that option.
Furthermore, think about the possible use of generative AI as an additional tool to plan your own shouted tourist activities.
The beauty of using generative AI is that it is highly interactive. You can tell the AI what you’re interested in. AI will attempt to narrow down the options based on your stated requirements. Keep in mind that generative AI is designed to be interactive. If you look at some of the options presented by the AI and don’t like what you see, just tell the AI to find something else. Go back and forth, processing what AI is discovering about you.
Easy-peasy.
A big problem is that some AI generating applications are not connected in real time to the Internet to receive new data and thus you will not get current information. Watch out for this. Be sure to ask the AI what the latest data is available. If the date is not current, continue.
I don’t mean to be particularly bleak, but a second problem is that some of the AI generating apps will take the next step of backing up your discovered options. They are not designed to do this. AI can tell you the details, including phone numbers to call and websites to book. It usually won’t track them and take those actions for you. You have to take on the tedious jobs. Sad face.
The good news is that this is rapidly changing, and we are rapidly moving towards so-called agent AI that can perform agent-like actions. For example, agent AI may be available to make reservations and confirm logistics for you (see my discussion about agent AI at the link here).
Hang in there, the future is coming soon.
Generative AI as your intimidation attraction in your pocket
I have another way for generative AI to be your friend when it comes to Halloween fanfare.
You can use generative AI to be your interactive scary brother.
Here’s the deal.
You can easily tell the generative AI that you want the AI to have Halloween-like discussions with you. For example, AI can tell you a scary story. If you want a light-hearted version, just say so, or get a hair-raising story. It all depends on you. Make sure you have the lights on and a friend nearby to reassure you that all is well.
A popular use of generative AI for this is for the AI to create personalized content for children. If the generative AI you’re using has an image generation feature, you can describe what you want and include the child’s name in the generated image. For example, a favorite is to say you want the child to be among fun-looking cartoon ghosts and goblins, and the youngster should be portrayed as a superhero, with their name vividly displayed. Beautiful things.
As always, there are a few caveats to watch out for.
Be careful about letting a young person directly use the generating AI for Halloween purposes.
I say this because AI can generate a story that is adult oriented and not suitable for a child. The same goes for the images that are produced. My repeated refrain is that generative AI is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you might get.
I’m not saying that kids should never use generative AI. Make sure that generative AI use is either supervised by adults or that the AI has been significantly restricted for use by young users (see my discussion about generative AI warning labels that would warn parents to be caution against the free use of generative AI by those who are minors, at the link here).
An added downside about generative AI is that there is a possibility that the AI will produce an AI hallucination. Please note that I dislike the terminology because it implies that AI is sentient, which AI is not, and therefore the key phrase tends to anthropomorphize AI. In any case, the bottom line is that AI can generate fake or weird content.
You never know when this might happen.
Imagine this terrifying circumstance. You ask the generative AI to create a Halloween-themed story that will eventually be read to a group of sleeping children. You print the story and have it available for the event. But you haven’t read it before. You naturally assumed it would be suitable for young people.
Woah, just imagine what unsavory content there could be. The next thing you know, you start reading it out loud, and suddenly and shockingly you find yourself deeply concerned that the story is inappropriate. This could be due to an AI hallucination that has been woven into the story.
Always be sure to double-check all AI-generated content.
More AI and Scream generative tourism opportunities
There are more options to consider.
You can tell the generative AI to pretend to be a person (see my coverage at the link here). Suppose you want to interact with a pirate and go on a virtual journey on a haunted ship. AI will simulate the kinds of things a pirate might say. The context of a haunted ship will be used by the AI to set the scene.
You can also have the children do this, although I again suggest that you be careful if you do this.
Another intriguing angle is this. Suppose you go to a loud tourist attraction. While there, you will undoubtedly stand in long lines to enter the various rides and haunted houses. Any anxious parent can tell you that long waits are terrifying when kids are anxiously waiting to get in.
What can you do to make the time pass quickly?
You can have children interact with the generative AI in the way I described above. Make the generative AI available on your smartphone and tell it to engage in Halloween stories or run a simulation specifically related to the scary ride or attraction you’re on.
One potential drawback is that most of today’s generative AI only works online, so you’ll need to have an internet connection, which may not be feasible while you’re at an attraction. Generative AI will soon be available independently to use on your smartphone and won’t need an internet connection per se. Smiling face.
Final thoughts of a spine-tingling nature
Some parents would cringe at the idea of using a smartphone as a means of entertaining their children while in line at a haunted attraction. The idea is that children should pay attention to the world around them, rather than having their eyes on a screen. It seems like the concept of going on a screaming tourism adventure should be to get away from the daily obsession with screens.
Okay, I hear you, and in that case, you can still use generative AI as your assistant to entertain the kids. Tell the generating AI you want some Halloween pranks. Don’t let HIM tell the jokes out loud. Instead, you crack jokes in your folksy way and entertain kids with spine-tingling bits of humor. I’m sure the youngsters will think you’re the best prankster ever.
It’s up to you to decide whether to reveal your super secret resource.
Is scream tourism your cup of tea?
Maybe yes, maybe not.
If your interest and budget allow for scream tourism, be sure to consider whether generative AI could be beneficial to you. As mentioned, there are now limits to how generative AI can be your loyal but not scary advisor in these matters. In the future, once we achieve agentic AI, you’ll be hard-pressed not to use generative AI for this purpose. Until then, it’s entirely your call.
There’s no need to fear using generative AI. Just go for it. HE will not go off screen.
And make sure you have a great Halloween, whatever you do.