FTC chair Lina Khan warns that airlines might one day use AI to find out you're attending a funeral and charge more
FTC chair Lina Khan warns that airlines might one day use AI to find out you're attending a funeral and charge more
Lina Khan, Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, is concerned that companies could use AI and personal data to charge consumers different prices.
Consumers could end up paying the (personalized) price as AI becomes more popular, FTC Chair Lina Khan recently warned.
At the 2024 Fast Company Innovation Festival, Khan said that although AI may be beneficial, it's already becoming some of the FTC's "bread and butter fraud work."
"Some of these AI tools are turbocharging that fraud because they allow some of these scams to be disseminated much more quickly, much more cheaply, and on a much broader scale," she said.
AI is already helping automate classic online scams like phishing and even introducing new, alarming frauds like voice cloning that can target unsuspecting consumers.
But Khan also took the opportunity to talk about a different way AI could be used to target consumers: retailers using surveillance technology and customer data to change the prices they offer to specific shoppers. Khan said the FTC is looking into AI's potential role in increasing the risk of price discrimination.
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Aren't you already supposed to contact the airline and ask for a bereavement flight, which is a discount on a short-notice ticket to attend the deathbed or funeral of an immediate family member?
In 1996, the answer to that question was, "yes - of course." I did it when I needed to fly 1000 miles on short notice to see my grandfather buried. I think it was the same in 2001 when my gran passed.
I'm honestly not sure what the answer is today. As a frequent and cynical flyer in 2024, I'm not so sure that's still a policy. A call to customer service might get you a cheap seat, but it's rare to find a flight that isn't completely booked. (Algorithms seem to have solved the airlines' empty seat problem)
I recently had a bereavement flight with Air Canada. There was no discount, but I was upgraded from my most basic ticket to one that could be rescheduled at no cost.