AllTrails has a new generative AI feature that can be asked to ‘shorten my route’ or ‘make this more scenic.’
But the people in charge of searching for lost hikers say the feature is going to exacerbate an issue they’ve been warning about for years: hiking apps providing false information."
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This wasn’t how I expected GenAI was going to start killing people but it will do the trick.
I took a Wilderness First Aid refresher earlier this year. It was interesting how much the curriculum has stayed the same but the emphasis has changed since I took it a few years ago. There’s still the checklist to get to “should I call for evacuation or not” but where before it felt like encouraging people to call for evacuation when needed, this one felt more like “stop to think and be sure a call is really needed because too many people are tying up S&R with their InReach Mini calls for a twisted ankle”.
Also new is the full-throated support of adding Narcan to your kit, assuming a state with decent Good Samaritan laws.
AI trail guidance sound like exacerbating an already untenable situation.
That sounds like a good adaptation they’re making, even just greater cell phone access is probably making that worse as well. I’ve definitely had park people scoff at me when bringing up AllTrails in the past, which is usually when I scratch that one off the list of to do’s. AllTrails also shouldn’t be encouraging shortcuts when switchbacks are there for a reason.
I’m sure this is preaching to the choir, but preparation beforehand goes so far too. It never ceases to amaze me how unprepared people are willing to go without even a set idea of where they want to be. I remember one time being at the high point of the High Divide trail in Olympic NP, WA and out of nowhere this panicked kid comes up to me asking for directions. This trail is 19 miles and 5k ft as a dayhike (people usually overnight or two) and he had just pushed on with some girl that was waiting down below a bit. This was at the halfway point so either way would’ve been fine, but he basically bailed before I could adequately explain anything. There’s a short loop of maybe 6 miles that I’m sure was what he meant to do, but how do you go ten miles on a six mile loop without turning around?
You can update post titles if that is meant to say ‘worrying’.
The card says ‘moops’… fixed, thanks
Well , that’s unfortunate. My subscription that I was on the fence about anyways renewed about 10 days ago. Their tracking beats anything else I know of. Garmin Connect is not my favorite UI, but it’ll work.
Shame to see. As someone whose backyard growing up ended literally 20 yards from the AT, I’ve loved AllTrails for years. I worry that this is going to get a lot of people in trouble. Chatbots living on servers should not be telling people to go off trail.
Yeah, I’ve already been lukewarm on how they go about their trail data, as stressed by park rangers and this article, but overall that app has been a huge benefit for me. To me, this is likely the one step too far. One year to ween myself off of it before the subscription lapses.
