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Air Canada Has to Honor a Refund Policy Its Chatbot Made Up

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Re: Air Canada Has to Honor a Refund Policy Its Chatbot Made Up

#4
> "Air Canada argues it cannot be held liable for information provided by one of its agents, servants, or representatives—including a chatbot," Rivers wrote. "It does not explain why it believes that is the case" or "why the webpage titled 'Bereavement travel' was inherently more trustworthy than its chatbot."

This is very reasonable-- AI or not, companies can't expect consumers to know which parts of their digital experience are accurate and which aren't.

Re: Air Canada Has to Honor a Refund Policy Its Chatbot Made Up

#7
post #5

In early days of computerization, companies tried to dodge liability due to "computer errors". That didn't work, and I hope the "It was the AI, not us" never gets allowed either.

> That didn't work

It worked in the British Post Office Scandal: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal

Re: Air Canada Has to Honor a Refund Policy Its Chatbot Made Up

#8
post #7
post #5

In early days of computerization, companies tried to dodge liability due to "computer errors". That didn't work, and I hope the "It was the AI, not us" never gets allowed either.

> That didn't work It worked in the British Post Office Scandal: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal

Since it's a scandal, it worked until it didn't.

And AFAICT "the computer did it" wasn't the argument, it was "the computer did it so it must be correct because the experts said so".

Re: Air Canada Has to Honor a Refund Policy Its Chatbot Made Up

#9
post #7
post #5

In early days of computerization, companies tried to dodge liability due to "computer errors". That didn't work, and I hope the "It was the AI, not us" never gets allowed either.

> That didn't work It worked in the British Post Office Scandal: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal

The fallout from this isn't done yet.

Re: Air Canada Has to Honor a Refund Policy Its Chatbot Made Up

#10
post #7
post #5

In early days of computerization, companies tried to dodge liability due to "computer errors". That didn't work, and I hope the "It was the AI, not us" never gets allowed either.

> That didn't work It worked in the British Post Office Scandal: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal

I think this is a very different kind of thing. IIUC:

With Air Canada, the question is whether or not a chat bot can be treated as a company representative that makes binding commitments.

With the British Post Office, the issue is whether or not a software system is inscrutable during legal proceedings.

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