Delta Air Traces fired again at lawmakers this week, defending its use of synthetic intelligence in pricing airfare.
In a letter to 3 lawmakers reviewed by TPG, the Atlanta-based service once more insisted it is not tapping into buyer information or focusing on particular person shoppers as a part of a brand new AI-assisted pricing program.
Delta particularly disputed issues raised by three Democratic senators who, final month, accused the airline of “individualized” and “surveillance” pricing.
“That is incorrect and this assumption, sadly, has created confusion and misinformation within the public discourse,” Delta Chief Exterior Affairs Officer Peter Clark wrote in a letter Thursday. “Moreover, we have now zero tolerance for discriminatory or predatory pricing and absolutely adjust to relevant legal guidelines in privateness, pricing and promoting.”
Delta first revealed it was utilizing AI on a small portion of home bookings final fall, likening the expertise to a “tremendous analyst” helping its human income administration staff.
By final month, the service had integrated AI on about 3% of its domestic routes by means of a partnership with tech agency Fetcherr, Delta President Glen Hauenstein mentioned, noting the service hoped to extend its AI utilization to about 20% of routes by the top of 2025.
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That revelation drew scrutiny from Capitol Hill to the C-suite of high rivals.
Senators Mark Warner (a Democrat from Virginia), Ruben Gallego (a Democrat from Arizona) and Richard Blumenthal (a Democrat from Connecticut) penned a letter to the airline final month, demanding extra readability concerning the firm’s AI pricing techniques.
Then, final week, American Airways CEO Robert Isom mentioned Delta’s use of AI was “not acceptable” and contended American did not plan to make use of AI in its fare-pricing practices.
Responding this week, Delta mentioned its new AI program was merely a “decision-support software” that forecasts demand and recommends fares primarily based on most of the similar enterprise issues which have dictated fares for many years, from reserving patterns to route competitors and gasoline costs.
In some circumstances, Delta’s AI software recommends cheaper fares — presumably when seats aren’t promoting.
Delta famous it is also integrating AI into different components of its enterprise, together with in customer support and in predicting when a airplane or plane half may want upkeep.
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