Read: Senators raise alarm over Delta's AI pricing plan
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Three Democratic senators wrote to Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian Monday to raise concerns about company plans to use AI to set individualized fares, which the airline maintains won't target customers with offers based on personal details.
Why it matters: Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote that Delta's personalized "current and planned individualized pricing practices" would present data privacy concerns and "likely mean" fare price rises "up to each individual consumer's personal 'pain point'" at a time when many families were struggling.
Zoom in: "Consumers have no way of knowing what data and personal information your company and Fetcherr plan to collect or how the AI algorithm will be trained," wrote the senators, in reference to the Israeli company that developed a Generative Pricing Engine tool.
- "Prices could be dictated not by supply and demand, but by individual need," they added.
- "While Delta has stated that the airline will 'maintain strict safeguards to ensure compliance with federal law,' your company has not shared what those safeguards are or how you plan to protect American families against pricing discrimination in the evolving AI landscape."
What they're saying: "There is no fare product Delta has ever used, is testing, or plans to use that targets customers with individualized offers based on personal information or otherwise," a Delta spokesperson said in an emailed statement late Monday.
- "A variety of market forces drive the dynamic pricing model that's been used in the global industry for decades, with new tech simply streamlining this process. Delta always complies with regulations around pricing and disclosures."
Read the letter in full, via DocumentCloud:
