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Investing.com -- U.S. Senators Mark Warner, Ruben Gallego, and Richard Blumenthal have demanded answers from Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) CEO Ed Bastian regarding the company’s plans to increase its use of artificial intelligence for ticket pricing.
In a letter to Bastian, the Democratic senators expressed concerns about Delta’s move toward "individualized pricing" or "surveillance-based price setting," which replaces fixed prices with fares tailored to each consumer’s perceived willingness to pay.
The senators warned that this approach raises serious data privacy issues and could lead to fare increases up to each customer’s personal "pain point" at a time when American families are already dealing with rising costs.
According to the lawmakers, Fetcherr CEO Roy Cohen, whose company is involved in the AI pricing technology, stated they use "all the data we can get our hands on" to train their systems. Fetcherr’s website claims AI adoption could increase aviation industry profits by up to $4.4 trillion annually.
The senators highlighted the privacy implications, noting that surveillance pricing typically utilizes extensive personal information from third-party sources, including purchase history, web browsing behavior, geolocation, social media activity, biometric data, and financial status.
They cited former FTC Chair Lina Khan’s warning about a scenario where an airline might charge higher fares to passengers who recently experienced a death in the family and need to travel across the country.
The lawmakers requested information about what types of data Delta will use to train its AI system, which routes and how many passengers will be affected, and what steps the airline has taken to ensure compliance with federal and state laws.
The senators are seeking answers on how Delta plans to protect Americans from pricing discrimination through this new AI-driven approach.
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