ADVERTISEMENTWandering around the island of Fanø in Denmark, tourists will come across sculptures and cartoon images of a bespectacled seal.
This is Waddi, the world’s first AI tour guide.
Beside the pictures of this friendly seal avatar are a series of QR codes. Visitors can scan the code and begin chatting with Waddi.
Tourists can ask him all kinds of questions from where to hire bicycles to the best nature experiences and top restaurants.
According to the developers behind the technology, Waddi is the first of its kind in the world.
This virtual tour guide uses artificial intelligence (AI) to answer visitor queries and engage in conversations.
"We get smarter because we can look at these questions, we get an idea of what guests are interested in, and then we can feed Waddi even more content," says development consultant Søren Christensen.
Fanø, an island in the Wadden Sea, is popular with nature-loving tourists. Its northwestern corner is dominated by a vast sandbank called ‘Søren Jessens Sand’ while the western shore is one long beach.
The island is also a prime spot for all kinds of wind and water sports, such as kite flying, surfing and buggy riding.
“For us that don’t know the island at all, it’s just great to do this and get some quick guides,” says one tourist who has tried out using Waddi.
Watch the video to find out more about how Waddi the AI tour guide works.