When AI books a trip,

who owns the customer?

Is your data infrastructure ready
for autonomous AI agents?

In this exclusive episode of the Skift Take Sessions podcast, recorded live at the Skift Data & AI Summit, Rob Drotar, Industry Principal at Thoughtworks, delves into the profound transformations Artificial Intelligence is bringing to travel distribution and infrastructure. 

Discover the strategic approaches that commercial aviation leaders must adopt to navigate the new era of "Business-to-Agent" (B2A) interactions, where distribution systems must be optimized to serve autonomous AI agents rather than just human travelers. The conversation addresses the urgent need to modernize legacy systems and orchestrate real-time data to mitigate the risk of losing direct customer ownership when AI handles the discovery and booking process.

What you will learn: 
 

• The B2A shift: How to adapt your brand positioning and distribution channels when the customer is an autonomous agent.
• Agent-ready tech: Building nimble, scalable cloud systems through clean data orchestration and modern enterprise structures.
• Smart modernization: Evaluating high-stakes AI initiatives by balancing innovation gains against the technical debt and operational risks of staying on legacy infrastructure.
• The "Build vs. Buy" paradigm Shift: Why major global airlines are moving away from "buy" to "build" tech strategies.
• Digital twins: Using advanced simulations and predictive AI to evaluate complex operational scenarios, model crew/aircraft routing, and minimize disruption impacts.