The concept
When OpenAI first released API access to ChatGPT, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology ran a hackathon challenging teams to build national-use applications with the technology.
The idea: an AI-powered avatar displayed on large screens in airport arrival areas. While waiting for luggage, travellers could have a natural conversation with the avatar — asking about places to visit, local customs, transportation, or dining recommendations — all delivered through a fluent, contextually aware digital guide fine-tuned for Saudi Arabia.
Pipeline
Whisper transcription
Spoken input is captured and transcribed to text using OpenAI's Whisper, supporting multiple languages.
GPT-3.5 reasoning
Fine-tuned to behave as a knowledgeable Saudi Arabia tour guide — contextually aware and conversational.
Text-to-speech output
Google TTS converts the generated response into natural speech, played through the kiosk speakers.
Kiosk deployment
Designed for large indoor advertising displays in airports — an ambient, walk-up interaction model.
Built with
GPT-3.5
Whisper AI
Google TTS
Python