In the latest sign frivolous and irritating use of AI, US airline Delta is looking to harness the tech to set prices for each individual customer, instead of just listing what they actually cost.
As Fortune reports, the airline is looking to push the boundaries of how much passengers are willing to shell out for a plane ticket. By the end of this year, Delta hopes to price 20 percent of its tickets individually, using AI.
The practice has already drawn plenty of scrutiny from lawmakers and privacy advocates, with senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) calling it out for being "predatory pricing," and accusing Delta of squeezing its customers "for every penny" while "bragging about using AI to find your pain point."
In other words, while the concept of "personalized" pricing has been around for quite some time, Delta is painting its dystopian new scheme as a viable long-term strategy to boost profitability — and of course throwing in AI as a trendy buzzword.
It's a troubling new development, indicative of the times we live in. Even grocery chains are touting their AI-driven, Uber-like dynamic pricing schemes, allowing them to gouge their customers by raising prices of goods on the fly through surveillance. And the concert industry, exemplified by Ticketmaster, has leaned into "dynamic pricing" that shakes down music lovers for maximum ticket prices depending on demand.
Naturally, Delta has been in damage control mode following the criticism. The company "has zero tolerance for discrimination," a spokesperson assured Fortune. "Our fares are publicly filed and based solely on trip-related factors like advance purchase and cabin class, and we maintain strict safeguards to ensure compliance with federal law."
However, it remains unclear what exactly Delta is — or isn't — doing to get an AI to determine the price of an airplane ticket.
The scheme doubles down on a decades-long practice of taking different factors into account to determine bespoke prices for each customer. The costs of airfare can vary wildly from minute to minute already, due to opaque changes in supply and demand, making for an incredibly frustrating flight booking experience.
To critics, AI could make the situation far worse.
"AI isn’t just optimizing business operations, but fundamentally rewriting the rules of commerce and consumer experience," Matt Britton, author of "Generation AI," told Fortune. "For consumers, this means the era of 'fair' pricing is over."
Nobody knows how Delta's latest attempt to cash in on the AI hype will shake out. Could passengers enjoy deep discounts — or should we expect plane ticket prices to continue to climb?
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