Delta’s AI spying to “jack up” prices must be banned, lawmakers say

One week after Delta announced it is expanding a test using artificial intelligence to charge different prices based on customers' personal data—which critics fear could end cheap flights forever—Democratic lawmakers have moved to ban what they consider predatory surveillance pricing.

In a press release, Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) announced the Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act. The law directly bans companies from using "surveillance-based" price or wage setting to increase their profit margins.

If passed, the law would allow anyone to sue companies found unfairly using AI, lawmakers explained in what's called a "one-sheet." That could mean charging customers higher prices—based on "how desperate a customer is for a product and the maximum amount a customer is willing to pay"—or paying employees lower wages—based on "their financial status, personal associations, and demographics."

Tlaib called companies using AI to "exploit" workers in "desperate" situations "appalling," with the one-sheet specifically shaming delivery services that lower drivers' wages based on their "pattern of taking orders" and health care companies that base nurses' pay on "an algorithmically-manipulated-bidding war, not the tasks they perform."

The lawmakers also called out Delta among companies whose AI pricing plans, advocacy groups warn, stand to worsen the US "affordability crisis" that currently sees many Americans struggling to afford basic items, like groceries. Delta has confirmed it plans to "set 20 percent of prices using AI by the end of the year," lawmakers noted.

Asked for comment on the bill, a Delta spokesperson confirmed the airline will be reaching out to Senators to explain its AI pricing. In a statement, Delta denied that its AI system used personalized data for individualized pricing. Instead, it apparently relies on AI to forecast demand for certain flights, adapt to emerging market conditions (like jet fuel costs), and factor in a wide variety of undisclosed variables, in addition to learning from pricing decisions. However, factors like customer purchasing behavior, customer demand, and competitive offers that perhaps that customer is known to be weighing also influence the AI's pricing, which lawmakers and critics may be interpreting as individualized pricing.