As the use of ChatGPT and generative artificial intelligence becomes more widespread in industries such as travel, there is growing concern about privacy and trust, leading to calls for regulation. Italy has blocked ChatGPT due to concerns about privacy controls, and OpenAI, the maker of the chatbot, has responded by introducing new privacy controls to meet the demands of Italy’s data protection agency. In the US, a tech advocacy group representing Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, and Oracle is lobbying for rules governing the use of AI in national privacy legislation. Despite these concerns, the travel industry is seeing a flurry of activity with the launch of new tools and services incorporating ChatGPT, enabling personalisation and fast, frictionless experiences for shopping and booking.
But some experts are warning that the convergence of data privacy and trust with the use of powerful AI is becoming a significant risk, particularly in the travel industry. Trevor Butterworth and Karl Schweppe of Indicio, a developer of open-source decentralised identity, propose the solution of verifiable credentials, used with a decentralised identifier communications protocol (DIDComm), to enable secure, trustworthy person-to-AI interaction. In the travel sector specifically, verifiable credentials would help consumers to use ChatGPT agents or Chat Valets to book flights and hotels according to their preferences and pay for those bookings automatically through secure, digital communication with their bank.
Butterworth and Schweppe predict that chat could eventually replace a website as the consumer’s interface with a brand, requiring a new model of identity verification. Schweppe notes that “the identity piece becomes so much more important” as chat replaces traditional logins, and digital trust is paramount because AI is creating “an explosion of fake everything.” As AI is used to provide consumers with customised, frictionless shopping and booking experiences, they will need to share their personal preferences and data, and brands will need to confirm the identity of the consumers they are interacting with in chat. Verifiable credentials could create a fully-connected travel experience, enabling more collaboration and more value for consumers.
Companies that recognise the risks associated with emerging AI solutions are ahead of the game, and with concerns about data privacy and scrutiny of “big tech”, control of data and the ability to trust brands will become a powerful message in the marketplace. Verifiable credentials offer a win-win situation, as decentralised identity and verifiable data provide companies with the benefit of secure data, which is increasingly important to consumers.