Troubles for Air Canada due to AI Chatbot
Kalpana G.
IP Attorney & Founder at Umbrella Legal, India| IIT Kharagpur Alumnus| Legal Entrepreneur| Strategic Legal Advisor| President at Maharashtra Startup Ecosystem and Incubation Council
I started this newsletter with the aim to cover the nuances of copyright law in relation to Artificial Intelligence. Today’s article is a slight deviation from the main objective and covers the trouble caused by an AI chatbot for the aviation company “Air Canada” and pursuant legal liabilities.
A few months back, a user accessed Air Canada website to book a flight to attend funeral of a family member. Unsure of the bereavement policy of the airline, the user sent his queries to the chatbot on the website for explanation. In response to the user’s query, the chatbot shared inaccurate and misleading information and encouraged the user to book a ticket and request a refund within 90 days. In contrast, the airline policy stated that the airline will not provide refunds for bereavement travel after the flight is booked. Following the chatbot advise, the user requested for refund but the airline denied his refund claims.
Even after sharing the screenshot of the information shared by chatbot, Air Canada rejected his claim for USD 880 (partial refund) and argued that chatbot response was linked to information present elsewhere on the website and the user should have accessed the actual policy. With this argument, Air Canada promised to update the chatbot and offered a coupon of USD 200 for future flights. Aggrieved by the proposed resolution, the user filed a small claim complaint in Canada’s Civil Resolution Tribunal.
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During the proceedings, Air Canada argued that the user should not have relied on information shared by chatbot and the airline should not be liable for misleading information provided by the chatbot as the chatbot is a separate legal entity responsible for its own actions.
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The user alleged negligent representation on behalf of Air Canada wherein as a seller, Air Canada did not exercise reasonable care to ensure its representations are accurate and not misleading. It was further argued that Canada owed a duty of care and negligence to fulfil its obligations, resulted in damages.
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As a seller, it is responsible for all information on its website and it makes no difference whether the information comes from a static page or a chatbot. Air Canada failed to explain one part of the website is more trustworthy than its chatbot and why as a seller, it expects its customers to double check information found in one part of its website on another part of its website.
The court ordered Air Cananda to pay a total of $812.02 which included $650 as damages, $36.16 in pre-judgement interest and $125 in CRT (Civil Resolution Tribunal) fees.
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I believe over time, similar disputes caused by the confusion caused by AI technology are going to pick up pace and it is important to evaluate your website and application content and check if the responses provided by the deployed chatbot aligns with your business policies and legal documentations. It is important that while deploying generative AI technologies including chatbots, the service providers take necessary precautions and make provisions to recover damages incurred due to third party claims basis the misleading information shared by the AI chatbots.
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Absolutely fascinating read, Umbrella Legal! ?? Leveraging AI comes with its own set of challenges and responsibilities. As Bill Gates once said, “The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don't really even notice it, so it's part of everyday life.” It’s crucial for companies to blend technological advancements responsibly into customer interactions. ??????
EU Projects Consultant || Event Management || Sports Ethics & Integrity Advocate
8 个月interesting info.. clearly, AI cant create magic and the recently hyped (supposedly simple) chatbot plug-ins should be used with caution, especially for companies in products and services sector. There is a high requirement of specific resources for training, testing, debugging and an associated duty of care, which cant be let gone of!
DPIIT IPR Chair Prof. at National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam
9 个月very interesting! new innovation comes with new challenges!
Independent Law Practice Professional
9 个月Interesting!