After months of negotiations, a civil court has ordered Air Canada to refund money to a customer who received incorrect refund information from an AI chatbot on the company’s website. The company had argued that the chatbot was a separate legal entity and that it was not responsible for its actions.
Jake Moffat, the plaintiff in this case, visited Air Canada’s website immediately after his grandmother’s death, reports Ars-Technica. He wasn’t sure how the airline’s bereavement fares worked, so he asked the chatbot on the website for an explanation. But the chatbot deceived him by telling him to book a flight immediately and then request a refund within 90 days. That’s not how it worked.
Air Canada’s corporate policy states: “Air Canada’s bereavement travel policy provides an option for our customers who need to travel due to impending death or the death of a close family member. Please note that our bereavement policy does not provide refunds for travel already completed.”
Moffat followed the chatbot’s instructions and took the flight. He then asked Air Canada for a refund, but the company refused. At the time, the company argued that the chatbot’s response included a link to the actual policy and that Moffat should therefore have known that bereavement benefits could no longer be claimed after the flight. After months of trying to get a refund, Mofatt filed a lawsuit in Canadian civil court.
In court, Air Canada suggested that the chatbot was a separate legal entity responsible for its own actions.
“This is a remarkable objection. Even if a chatbot has an interactive component, it is still only a part of Air Canada’s website. It should be obvious to Air Canada that it is responsible for all information on its website, regardless of whether the information comes from a static page or a chatbot,” a member of the tribunal wrote in the court’s ruling.
This case in Canada is the first of its kind, according to MashableThis could mean that the ruling in this case could have implications for future cases scrutinising other companies’ AI-powered chatbots.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 20.02.2024 at 14:38 IST
“Amateur web enthusiast. Award-winning creator. Extreme music expert. Wannabe analyst. Organizer. Hipster-friendly tv scholar. Twitter guru.”