AI-BASED GUIDEBOOKS: CONCEPTS, KEY FEATURES, AND CHALLENGES

The digital transformation of tourism and information services has accelerated the adoption of artificial intelligence in travel-related applications. An outcome of this process is the emergence of AI-based guidebooks, which differ from traditional guidebooks in their ability to personalize content, adapt to changing conditions, and interact with users in real time. This study aims to examine the core features, technological foundations, and challenges of AI-based guidebooks and their implications for contemporary tourism. The object of the research is AI-based guidebooks as intelligent guidance systems. It is focused on their functional characteristics, including personalization, context awareness, and interactive capabilities. The methodology is based on a conceptual and analytical review of academic literature on intelligent recommendation systems, natural language processing, geospatial analytics, and multimodal information delivery. The analysis identifies key advantages of AI-based guidebooks, such as adaptive content generation, context-sensitive recommendations, conversational interaction, and multimodal engagement. At the same time, important limitations are highlighted, including issues of information reliability, privacy and ethical concerns, and the risk of over-reliance on automated systems. The study concludes that AI-based guidebooks mark an important advancement in tourism information systems and stresses the need for more research on transparency, user trust, and hybrid methods that blend AI personalization with human-edited cultural content.