From AI-powered trail planning to conversational discovery, AllTrails CTO James Graham unpacks how intelligent technology is redefining hiking, safety and responsible exploration. Robbie Hodges reports

When it comes to generative AI, The Great Outdoors might seem an unlikely pairing. For the past decade, the prevailing narrative around technology has been that it’s an obstacle or obstruction to meaningful engagement with our natural environment, but generative AI is shifting the dial – being deployed in ways that prompt people to go further and make deeper connections with places underfoot. 

Take Terra, the haptic pebble designed by Dutch studio Modem Works that promotes screen-free wandering. Or how about Dex, a kid-friendly camera revealed at CES 2026, which interprets photos taken by children – of unfamiliar animals or plants, for instance – and translates the subject into different languages. 

And then, of course, there’s AllTrails, the fast-growing route planning app that’s embraced the technology with gusto. In the summer of 2025 it rolled out a new AI-powered membership tier, Peak, which draws on over 10 million data points to provide live insights into air quality, mosquito activity and more; auto-adjusts routes per user preferences and enables people to identify obscure plants on the go.

That was just the start. In November 2025 AllTrails announced an integration with ChatGPT meaning that the platform’s routes now surface within the platform when asked to generate trails; a partnership that positions AllTrails as the go-to source for route-planning intelligence in the AI era. 

But what does this all mean in practice – for overtourism on hiking trails, for safety in the outdoors, and for the future value of traditional navigation skills? As AI becomes more embedded in how people discover and move through nature, these questions are becoming harder to ignore. To understand how AllTrails is navigating the opportunities and risks, we spoke to the brand’s Chief Technology Officer, James Graham.

Who is the intended user of AllTrails Peak?

AllTrails Peak is for anyone who wants to make the most of their time outside. Peak is our most premium membership, and it’s powered by our most advanced technology. It’s game-changing for the outdoors whether you’re tackling big, ambitious routes or just making the most of your weekend walks.

With Peak, you can build your own routes directly in the app, check trail popularity using community heatmaps, and identify plants, mushrooms, and insects as you explore. It also comes with all the features of Plus, our mid-level membership, which includes offline maps, wrong-turn alerts, and more.

What user behaviour has surprised you most since launching Peak?

Custom Routes had been one of the most frequent requests from our community, so I knew people would be excited to try it. What really impressed me, though, is how quickly it has become an essential part of people’s trail planning. Most Peak members create and save multiple custom trails, and then they keep coming back to download them, navigate them, or share them with others.

When AI-generated routes are informed by thousands of other users’ experiences, how do you ensure less-travelled or more fragile environments aren’t unintentionally over-promoted?

I’m really proud of our teams for not just helping people get outside, but helping them do it responsibly. Our in-house trail experts keep trail pages current and work directly with parks and land managers to bring our community up-to-date information. Together, we highlight things like trail popularity, environmental considerations, and verified routes on AllTrails so members can feel informed and make responsible decisions once they’re on the trail.

AI helps us deliver those insights and make personalized trail recommendations to millions of trailgoers at scale. When you use AllTrails, you’re tapping into the powerful combination of our community’s insights, our team’s expertise, and the innovation that makes our platform possible. 

What is the value of map-reading and manual navigation tools in the age of AI?

Trails are dynamic, and outdoor conditions are constantly changing. That’s why having the latest mapping and terrain details is so important for navigating safely and confidently. AI can help you get there faster by making it easier to plan and prepare, but it doesn’t replace the real-time decisions you’ll make or navigation you’ll do on the trail.

Regarding your recent ChatGPT integration, do you see conversational interfaces eventually becoming a core way users interact with AllTrails, or primarily a discovery layer that points back to the app?

Every day, we think about how we can help more people get outside. The answer almost always comes back to meeting people where they are. 

We know from ChatGPT’s incredible and rapid growth that people all over the world are using AI to plan their lives. This includes the time they spend outdoors. Bringing the AllTrails app into ChatGPT helps connect millions of people to our app, whether they’re discovering AllTrails for the first time or have been using it for years.

We’re also starting to introduce chat functions directly in AllTrails, giving members the option to quickly learn trail details through conversational questions. I’m excited to see how those interactions shape their adventures this year.

Where have you deliberately chosen not to use AI because the risk outweighed the benefit?

We’re not using generative AI to create new trails or routes, or to navigate members along a trail. Instead, our Custom Routes feature uses machine learning and existing trail networks to help members build routes to their preference. And every AllTrails trail page is created by a trail expert on our data integrity team. They research, map, and verify each AllTrails route so people can know what to expect before heading out, and they continually edit photos, descriptions, and alerts as conditions change. 

Do you see AllTrails evolving into a broader outdoor intelligence platform, or staying tightly focused on consumer experience?

Technology will always influence how we experience the world. For us, the member experience always has to come first. Everything we build is in service of helping people enjoy meaningful time outside.

We’ve designed technology that enhances your experience without becoming your experience. We want people to be able to spend less time on screen and more time outside, immersed in nature. That’s been true since I first joined AllTrails in 2019, and that approach continues to guide us today.

Looking ahead, how do you think consumer-facing AI will change how people access the outdoors over the next few years?

When used responsibly and paired with human expertise, AI has the potential to make time outside easier, more rewarding, and more accessible for everyone.

We’re building a future where AI expands who gets out on the trail. The bigger the global community of people who love the outdoors, the better off we’ll all be.