Senators raise privacy concerns over AI-pricing used by Delta Air Lines

A group of U.S. lawmakers are raising privacy concerns about Delta Airlines' use of artificial

intelligence to set individual passenger fares. Democratic Senators Ruben Gallego, Richard Blumenthal, and Mark Warner demanded details from Delta over its strategy to employ

AI-based revenue systems across 20 percent of its domestic network toward the end of this year

In the letter, they warn Delta's current and planned individualized pricing practices

not only present data privacy concerns, but also likely mean fair price increases

up to each individual's personal pain point at a time when American families are already

struggling with rising costs. Delta's move comes as the airline looks to eliminate static pricing

and as it currently uses AI to determine around 3% of airfares through a pilot program

Delta's CEO recently praised the role of AI as amazingly favorable to revenue in an investor's

call. The airline says the ultimate goal is to eliminate static pricing forever. However

critics warn the use of AI to set prices may lead to discrimination There are concerns AI pricing could target low income or uninformed customers with extremely high prices The nonprofit Consumer Watchdog warns AI prices usually give the best deals to wealthy

customers while offering low-income customers the worst deals, based on theory that they have

the fewest options. Gallego called Delta's AI pricing predatory on social media. He wrote

Imagine needing to fly home to take care of a sick parent. An AI has your personal data, knows you're desperate, and raises your ticket price

That's the future Delta is heading toward. In response to Gallego, one user wrote

Imagine your grief becoming an upsell opportunity. Delta's new slogan, we know you're suffering, and we priced accordingly

Delta denied it's using AI to discriminate or gather private data. The airline said in a statement to Newsweek

there's no fair product Delta has ever used, is testing or plans to use that targets customers

with individualized offers based on personal information or otherwise. They argue it's simply streamlining the process of its dynamic pricing model

and it complies with all federal laws. For more on this story, download the Straight Arrow News app or visit san.com. For Straight Arrow News, I'm Lauren Keenan