Air Canada has been ordered to compensate a man when the Air Canada chatbot misled him over a bereavement fare. It is an interesting case, though I found Air Canada’s legal reasoning to border on absurd.
Air Canada Held Liable For Chatbot Misinformation
A Vancouver man named Jake Moffatt was given the bad news that his grandmother died, prompting him to immediately check on air tickets to Toronto to attend the funeral.
He searched for bereavement fares and the chatbot, a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users and a tool many airlines now use in a bid to reduce call center inquiries, provided the following info:
“If you need to travel immediately or have already travelled and would like to submit your ticket for a reduced bereavement rate, kindly do so within 90 days of the date your ticket was issued by completing our Ticket Refund Application form.”
On that basis, Moffatt booked his ticket, attendee the funeral, then later…
#AirCanada
