Need a little help planning your next vacation? Try asking AI for some inspiration — or even a full itinerary.

Driving the news: Travel startup Mindtrip yesterday unveiled "Start Anywhere," an AI-powered tool that can build a trip itinerary with as little as a single photo as a starting point.

Why it matters: Travel is booming, but actually figuring out a specific plan beyond "Portugal" or "Japan" remains a pain point for many jet-setters.

How it works: Mindtrip users can upload a photo, a URL of a travel blog, an article, or a YouTube video as a starting place.

• Start Anywhere then offers up an itinerary replete with restaurants, activities, sights and so on. Travelers can then book that itinerary as is, or use it as a jumping-off point for creating their own plan.
• The tool's recommendations can be customized based on users' preferences.
• Users can also start with a copy of their hotel or flight reservations, if they've already booked their travel or accommodations.

Zoom in: Start Anywhere combines the power of ChatGPT with Mindtrip's own data on hotels, attractions, restaurants, etc.

• The company gets a cut when its users book trips through the travel search engines and aggregators it's working with.

The intrigue: Travel writers, bloggers and influencers can sign up for the company's "Mindtrip Creator" program to generate what are essentially referral links.

• If their readers or viewers click into Mindtrip and set up an account to build an itinerary based on their content, they get a cash payment.
• That comes as many AI companies are under fire for using digital content without creators' permission.

What they're saying: Mindtrip CEO Andy Moss tells Axios that Start Anywhere's big advantage is that it combines the broad instant-response power of generative AI with the company's specific travel data — as opposed to simply using a general-use chatbot to build an itinerary.

• For example, Mindtrip is smart enough to know that a once-popular restaurant is closed, so it won't include that in an itinerary, Moss says.
• "That's where AI is heading — blending this more real-time data and the knowledge base with the conversational piece."

What's next: Mindtrip is thinking through how to make its AI assistant helpful not just when you're planning a trip, but also when you're actually abroad.

• "If I'm standing in front of a cathedral in Milan or whatever, I'm much more tied into where my GPS is and what photos I'm taking, but I still want the assistant to be there," Moss says, "because I might want to actually find something serendipitously."

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Boeing will be led by Kelly Ortberg starting next month, the company announced yesterday.

Why it matters: Ortberg, an outside hire and aerospace industry veteran, could usher in a crucial shift in Boeing's culture, which has been blamed for numerous safety lapses in recent years.

Zoom in: When Ortberg was CEO of Rockwell Collins — one of Boeing's big suppliers — he had a reputation for regularly walking the production floor.

• In contrast, outgoing Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun — who previously served as an executive at private equity firm Blackstone — has been criticized for reportedly retaliating against whistleblowers.

What they're saying: "One person cannot turn around a company, but Kelly should be able to cast a wider net for talent than a Boeing insider could," Ron Epstein, senior aerospace and defense analyst at BofA Securities, wrote in a research note yesterday.

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A new ad featuring a dad using Google's Gemini chatbot to help his daughter write a fan letter to an Olympic gold medalist is roiling the internet.

• Many viewers see it as a tone-deaf portrait of AI sucking the humanity out of heartfelt traditions.

Catch up quick: Google's "Dear Sydney" ad shows a dad asking Gemini for help writing the letter, offering prompts about his daughter's love for track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

• Online commentators were quick to take offense — not only about the AI shortcut, but also about lazy parenting.

What they're saying: "The father in the video is not encouraging his daughter to learn to express herself," wrote Shelly Palmer, a media professor at Syracuse University.

• "Instead of guiding her to use her own words and communicate authentically, he is teaching her to rely on AI for this critical human skill."

Yes, but: Many users find that AI chatbots help them overcome the stress of staring at a blank page.

The other side: "We believe that AI can be a great tool for enhancing human creativity, but can never replace it," Google ad communications manager Alana Beale tells Axios.

• The goal was to celebrate Team USA and "to show how the Gemini app can provide a starting point, thought starter or early draft for someone looking for ideas for their writing," Beale says.

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Front-row first class and economy spots are some of travelers' favorite airplane seats, new data finds.

Driving the news: Seats 1A, 7F and 7A — all front-row window seats in their respective classes — are the most popular options based on a typical Boeing 737-800 seat map, per Upgraded Points' recent survey.

By the numbers: Nearly 67% of passengers prefer window seats, while about 32% favor the aisle.

• 1.7%, for some reason, opt for the middle seat.

Zoom in: About 34% of respondents said Delta has the comfiest seats, followed by American and United, which both came in at around 16%.

What they did: The survey involved 3,142 U.S. passengers across 44 states and was undertaken between June 14-21.

💬 Alex's thought bubble: I need to know more about those middle-seat flyers.

• What do they know that I don't? Are they just big armchair fans? (As everyone knows, the middle seat gets both armrests). Many unanswered questions remain.