Flight Centre Travel Group has as established an "AI Center of Excellence" centered around artificial intelligence adoption and integration in its corporate travel businesses, FCM and Corporate Traveler, the company announced.
Adrian Lopez, who most recently was FCM Digital's global chief technology officer, will lead the new group as head of AI for corporate. Lopez was a co-founder of the Sam mobile app travel assistant, which Flight Centre invested in and later acquired, at which point Lopez joined the group and helped integrate Sam across Flight Centre's products.
Based in Greece, Lopez now will lead a team setting the group's corporate brands' AI strategy, implementing best practices and doing research, training and support around the technology. The group aims to leverage AI technology to improve productivity and workflow, enabling the human workforce to focus on more "creative-driven projects," according to Flight Centre.
"The disruptive benefits of AI will enable us to work more efficiently, identify new ways to service our clients and reach the next generation of business travelers," Lopez said in a statement.
Lopez will report to John Morhous, Flight Centre Travel Group's global chief experience officer of its corporate brands.