People are beginning to start every search with an AI portal like ChatGPT or Perplexity. Adobe found that 77% of people who use ChatGPT already use it for search. That is a step forward. It reduces friction, summarizes choices, and gives us a fast starting point and we all know how people like consistency about where to start a task - it just makes sense. 

But, what it cannot do on its own is represent local reality in a timely way with the precision, voice, and accountability of the organizations that actually serve a place. That gap is where local AI guides organized into local networks help everyone.

Our thinking is that global AIs start the conversation, local AI guides finish it with verified details, live context, and actions that drive real visits, sales, and impact.

So… why does having a local AI guide matter?

For a business, cultural destination, or nonprofit, having a website is not enough. In the conversation economy, you need an AI guide trained and maintained by your team. The guide becomes your digital representative that answers in your voice, uses your policies, promotes your offers, and coordinates handoffs to trusted partners.

Let’s look at a real place: Erie, Pennsylvania

Many of the facts about Erie exist online. You can find museum hours, restaurant menus, and event listings through Google Maps or tourism sites. But what truly drives engagement? Details that help a visitor decide, act, and feel welcome and that level of personalization rarely lives in easy to access public data feeds. Those are the nuances owned by the organizations themselves, and that’s where local AI guides become essential.

Think of an AI guide as the local expert that doesn’t just list what’s happening, but explains why it matters right now and helps you act on it. It’s not just a search result; it’s a representative of the organization with authority, tone, and empathy built in.

• Erie Art Museum might have its hours and exhibits listed online but only a local guide can quote the current membership highlights, answer accessibility questions, or invite a nearby student to fill a same-day volunteer slot. That’s personalization, not just information.
• Presque Isle State Park publishes seasonal updates, but a park guide can explain the why behind trail closures, tell you which kayak rentals are open, and recommend a kid-friendly lunch spot nearby. That blend of data and judgment is what makes the interaction human-centered.
• Erie Playhouse posts showtimes on its site, but a guide can confirm seats in real time, check youth program eligibility, or issue a last-minute discount to fill the house. It can act on intent, something no static listing can do.
• Erie Zoo already lists its hours online, but its AI guide could offer sensory-friendly visiting times, rain plans, or waitlist updates via text. That turns a website visit into an ongoing relationship.
• Local restaurants and coffee shops such as The Cork 1794 or Ember + Forge have menus online, but their guides could answer dietary questions, manage private dining requests, and refer overflow tables to nearby partners during busy weekends keeping business local instead of losing it to a national chain. 
• Nonprofits like Erie United Way or Erie Arts & Culture publish contact info, but their guides can qualify a resident for services, confirm which programs still have capacity, and book an intake appointment in two messages. That’s what “access” means when it’s built for humans, not algorithms.

Each of these cases shows why “being online” is no longer enough. AI portals like ChatGPT or Perplexity can summarize what’s public but they can’t provide the nuance, context, and authority that come from first-party knowledge. A local AI guide fills that gap, bringing the human voice, decision logic, and up-to-the-minute insight that global systems simply can’t replicate.

What large models miss even when events are published

It is true that events posted to public pages may be crawled and summarized by big models. The problem is that local decisions depend on information and actions that are rarely captured in a public listing or that change hour to hour. Local AI guides close that gap.

• Eligibility and edge cases: rules for residents, seniors, students, income thresholds, and residency proof. A guide can ask the right clarifying questions and decide on the spot.
• Capacity and perishable inventory: real time seats, tickets, rentals, camp slots, and volunteer openings. Listings do not expose the count or cutoffs. The guide does.
• Exceptions and policy nuance: refund rules, weather contingencies, ADA accommodations, photo permissions, and chaperone requirements. Frontier models generalize. The guide enforces specific policy.
• Transactional follow through: book, register, issue vouchers, apply discount codes, add to a waitlist, or schedule an intake. Search does not convert. The guide completes the loop.
• First party offers: members only perks, local resident rates, educator nights, and donor previews that are intentionally off web. The guide can share these with the right audience.
• Operational signals: staff shortages, detours, construction, parking changes, and short term closures that are not reflected in static pages.
• Voice and accountability: the museum speaks as the museum, not as an anonymous summary. This builds trust and reduces costly misunderstandings.

Okay, how might this all play out?

• Presque Isle wind alert: lifeguards declare red flag conditions at 10 a.m. The park guide shifts visitor plans to safe overlooks, highlights the Tom Ridge Environmental Center, and asks its local AI guide to push conversions to the Erie Playhouse guide for a matinee option. A static event calendar cannot do this and search results don’t make live referrals.
• Erie Playhouse rush tickets: a matinee is 70 percent full at noon. The guide opens a two hour rush code for students, notifies the Gannon University and Mercyhurst University guides, and sells out the balcony.
• Food festival reroute: downtown lots fill early. The VisitErie guide routes arrivals to alternate parking, suggests lunch at nearby partners, and issues a QR for free dessert at a participating cafe to smooth demand.
• Nonprofit intake triage: a family messages United Way after hours. The guide qualifies for utility assistance, checks partner capacity, books a morning appointment, and provides a document checklist. No phone tag. No missed window. And... in virtually any language.

But, consumers are fickle and loyalty feels like a thing of the past.  What makes it work?

• Off web knowledge: the guide knows about today’s program openings, rain plans, and member perks that are not posted publicly.
• Verified and current: answers come from the organization itself. Fewer errors and fewer wasted trips.
• Richer media and emotion: short video clips, photos, and testimonials increase confidence and reduce decision fatigue.
• Connected referrals: one guide knows when and how to introduce another guide. Your question about beach conditions becomes a full day plan with parking, coffee, lunch, and a show without starting over.
• Competitive context: the guide understands alternatives. If your first choice is full, you get the closest match with a real reason to choose it now.
• Accessibility and language: local guides answer in plain language, offer bilingual support, and honor local norms, holidays, and sensitivities.
• Privacy by purpose: the guide asks only what is needed to serve the request, not a broad data harvest.

Global portals meet local networks

ChatGPT and Perplexity are the new starting points. They should be. The finish line belongs to the places that maintain their own AI guides and connect them. When Erie businesses, cultural destinations, and nonprofits publish their truth into trained guides, the region becomes an intelligent network. Visitors talk to Erie rather than just search for it. Families get to the right program on time. Stages and seats fill. Dollars stay local.

Practical next step for Erie or really any region: stand up an AI guide for every major organization, connect them through trusted referrals, keep first party policy, inventory, and offers updated at the source, and measure conversions, not clicks. 

Don’t outsource your future discovery.

The portal is global. The value is local. If local organizations do not participate directly in AI assisted search and conversation, the story of a place will default to generic summaries and stale listings. If they do participate through trained local guides, communities win with accuracy, empathy, and action that only the people on the ground can provide.Make sure your company, organization, or region sets the terms for how your story is told. Don’t allow someone who has never visited decide how people see you.