Delta has a long-term strategy to boost its profitability by moving away from set fares and toward individualized pricing using AI. The pilot program, which uses AI for 3% of fares, has so far been “amazingly favorable,” the airline said. Privacy advocates fear this will lead to price-gouging, with one consumer advocate comparing the tactic to “hacking our brains.”
Time to fill the internet with posts about extremely cheap flights until the AI learns.
Example:
“Found a super cheap flight today! 10USD for a round trip to Japan from NYC!”
Thank god for GDPR. We Europeans, according to GDPR article 22, have a right to object to automated decision making without having service denied.
How long until they are found price-gouging people in certain demographics?
Somehow me think that AI will be used to increase prices where it can, but not the other way around
The only saving grace will be if they code in trying to fill a plane for efficiency. I could see an AI making last minute flights at an actual discount but only if full flight efficiency is prioritized over individual sale margin, so not likely. It’s aloft on an wing and a prayer.
They already do that. Now they will do it less.
About the same time that all 4 other airlines decide to do the same or worse.
This is already how it has worked forever and AI was not needed. Try it yourself using different devices or times of day.
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Ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… No. The wealthiest customers get the best price, obviously.
Oh good. Then it will know I’m too broke to fly.
ETA The real joy will be when someone charts prices and notices nonwhites are disproportionately overcharged, for which Delta will be responsible during the class action lawsuit.
And saying but the algo / AI did it will be as useful as saying but that’s the fault of our sales people who get commissions.
That was my first thought. Even if the system does not know people’s protected class status, does not mean it cannot discriminate against them.
I’ve recently been looking at how Facebook’s advertising algorithm works, and it is a piece of pure fucking “the AI did it not us” evil. It can seek out all types of vulnerable people and target them on stuff that if a human salesperson did it you’d call them a sociopath.
Anorexic? Body confidence issues? Financial problems? Signs of susceptibility to fascist messaging? Here’s some paid messages from people who want your dollar. Seriously that whole place needs shutting down, it’s the worst thing to happen to humanity in recent history.
And saying but the algo / AI did it
Sure, the algo did it. But someone chose to use it and continue using it.
you mean charge rich people more, poor people less or just charge desperate people more?
They left it until the very end of the article:
Early research on personalized pricing isn’t favorable for the consumer. Consumer Watchdog found that the best deals were offered to the wealthiest customers—with the worst deals given to the poorest people, who are least likely to have other options.
Yeah when I started travelling on a generous business expense account I found that it was increasingly the case that I didn’t even need to charge things to it. Things just start becoming fucking free when you’ve got money.
Of course.
This is honestly surprising to me. Wouldn’t they charge wealthy people more because they could just suck up the higher prices?
Nono, see. They want to lock in repeat visits and gain them as an investor, then use their influence to suckle cash out of the remaining populace.
Charge most more and a few the same. I doubt anyone will be getting charged less.
On the rare occasion I fly, I know I can get my long knees in a Delta plus seat. This restriction will definitely make my ticket go up with such an AI. It feels like it should be an accomodation but is more often a punishment.
Got a funeral in the family? Thrice the fare for you.
AI; checks your credit report and decides you aren’t poor enough.
I have an idea for a business: a browser with vpn. the catch is that the vpn connects to the poorest areas of the country you live in, and the browser reports your machine as the most crappy thing that can browse the web - which should result in low, low prices everywhere!
the catch is that the vpn connects to the poorest areas of the country you live in
A common mistake.
You’re going to get a worse deal if the airline thinks you’re not going to be a repeat customer or part of a larger network of frequent fliers. The customers who get the best deals are the ones that airlines believe they will be able to collect money from routinely. If they have you pegged as someone who will only ever buy a ticket once or twice in their lives, they’re going to try and sell you the worst possible seat at the highest possible price.
What you can expect as a poor buyer is debt-financing, bait-and-switch, and the worst kind of economy service at the highest marginal price point. Budget airline travel is miserable and AI isn’t going to make the experience any better.
That’s a good argument, so probably the location should be in a pretty high COL suburb, maybe a gated community.
I suspect the AI is going to be more interested in your history with Delta (frequent flyer status) and the fanciness of your credit card than your zip code. Age, employment status, and race/gender/number of social connections will also likely factor in.
Great time to be in the “Influencer” business, but I wouldn’t want to be a member of a marginalized group (dark skin, poor English, scary religion/gender, etc).
It’s very, very, very likely to take into accounts a bunch of data bought from all the wonderful companies that track all your habits, especially purchasing habits.
ok, so the system must be able to complete payment themselves using well-known “fancy” credit cards, which belong to a white guy working in Big Tech (or an equivalent business credit card, which would be easier) complete with linkedin profile.
sounds more complicated, but should still be doable. but it’s a mind experiment anyways (and probably already in use by secret services to keep a low profile on their agents).
You can actually already do this to an extent. Make certain bookings from a different country by VPN and it will affect your price (for the same flight/hotel/etc). I tried this a year ago and it made a difference!
So … wait for the EU to outlaw this practice as price gouging, then use a VPN to appear to be buying from the EU?
i know it’s not that easy, i’m quite paranoid about my trackability, but running that browser in a small VM would be an option.
Consumer protections when?
why should they? it’s basically just a worse version of scaling prices by income, something the government loves doing.
If that’s all it was, it wouldn’t be bad. Unfortunately the reason they want to use ai is because it will be more complicated than that. Think - you need to fly somewhere vs you are thinking of flying somewhere. Data brokers will provide the ai with information about your job, your (and your family’s) health, funerals, etc.
I’m mostly thinking it will end up with delta losing money because people just won’t fly on delta if it costs more
I don’t quite understand if your statement is for or against consumer protections because I can’t fathom being against consumer protections. Could you please clarify?
I read that as higher prices for poorer people and cheaper prices for the rich.
Higher for the desperate and lower for the casual traveler.
I read it as opposing progressive taxation
thats a dishonest argument. One has a money assembly line straight to a billionaire’s house. The other’s assembly line that has a possibility to be used for public good.
What’s the point of money anymore, then? Let my personal ai agent pay for the ticket with the same funny money that delta wants to use.
Making sure you pay the absolute most possible for everything you buy. Welcome to tyranny capitalism. You will be charged a poor tax in the form of optimised pricing exploitation.
that’s econ 101.
Also the poor should have not seemed desperate.
Econ 101 also states that a failed business stops existing. In reality, failed businesses are endlessly bailed out as “too big to fail” and they pay their executives bonuses with that bailout money while continuing to rip off customers along with the other one or two companies in the same industry that do the same.
Luigi Mangione, white courtesy phone. Luigi Mangione, white courtesy phone please.
AI does calculation
…processing…
Done!
Answer = 0$
Like that time they opened an AI vendor, and employees convinced it to give away stuff for free
If you don’t give me a discount u r gay … IT WORKED
Sooo… If you’re broke, does it give you low prices vs someone who is rich?
Kidding, kidding. We all know they’re going to be fucking the lower and middle income brackets hard as hell with this. As if we weren’t already being milked dry, now they want to milk the very blood out of us.
My question is: What the fuck is the endgame? This shit isn’t sustainable. Used to be that most companies were content with steady profits. The last 40+ years has shown us that simply generating a profit isn’t enough, the profits must be constantly going even higher every quarter. But again, this isn’t realistic or sustainable. So why the fuck has the entire world agreed to condone and enable this pathway that is ultimately doomed?
I was thinking the same thing, considering that I have less money to pay to fly my price should be lower, no? But the article ends on this note:
Early research on personalized pricing isn’t favorable for the consumer. Consumer Watchdog found that the best deals were offered to the wealthiest customers—with the worst deals given to the poorest people, who are least likely to have other options.
So basically the opposite of what it should be. I wouldnt mind individualized pricing if it meant Delta was robinhooding with their pricing model, but instead they are effectively using their pricing model to force out poorer consumers. Which makes sense from their perspective I suppose considering they can upsell more shit to people with more money.
As someone who lives in a top-wealth zipcode (as a working class person) I assume by next year this means I will no longer be able to afford to fly out of town…
Its starting to make sense why the GOP was working to ban regulation on AI use. This shit is blatantly unethical
There is no fucking way that that is sustained simply due to the fact that people would BURN THIS PLACE DOWN if companies start doing shit like that. No one has money as it is. I’m not convinced we’re not going to burn it down as it is.
These elites has truly lost the plot and are going so far down the comic book villain lane, they’re going to start dying like comic book villains. Dunked in acid, frozen solid, crushed by their exploding submarine, eaten by their own rabid experiments… Who knows, but I’m excited to find out.
People will not do anything. They might complain on Lemmy/Reddit/Facebook and then go watch another tiktok
Most people don’t even boycot companies for doing this shit.
Uber started this shit years ago. If you’re desperate, they screw you. You’re well off, they screw you. You’re in the middle of nowhere, they screw you. There’s a holiday/event, they screw you. You’re one of their drivers, they screw you daily.
I can’t recall if they ever got sued over it, but they’re still here.
people would BURN THIS PLACE DOWN if companies start doing shit like that.
Based on what? People will not do shit.
Based on them literally starving. This is a deranged idea that will infect every aspect of your life if you let it. And when it does, people will starve. There will be violence. That’s my point.
They may abuse us and torture us, but they are psychopathic about it that they are not leaving any bread of circuses. When those end, the top dies. That’s how society works throughout history.
It’s not just Delta. What we really need is tougher regulations to prevent this. Of course there is a snowballs chance in hell this will happen in this administration.
Starving because Delta airlines did a thing? Not sure about that one.
Long term thinking? Nah. None for me thanks.
You can strike crushed by their exploding submarine off your list. Already happened.
Look around, dum dum. You see any shit burning to the ground? You think manipulating airline pricing is gonna do it?
This isn’t about fucking flight prices. This is a testing ground. You think it’s going to remain relegated to airlines? If this works out for delta, you’ll see this in grocery stores, in all entertainment, any subscriptions, every single transaction will be reduced to: what is the most you Are physically able to pay currently?
They’re already doing it for apartments and other rentals, and have been for years. Nobody did anything.
Yeah. Yet no one is going to burn Delta to the ground over it.
worst deals given to the poorest people, who are least likely to have other options
(emphasys mine)
Financially, giving the higher price to those who have fewer options is exactly “what it should be” so it makes sense that a pattern finding algorithm trained to find patterns in user data that indicate they are likely to agree to higher prices, produces such a result.
It’s Ethically and Morally that this is the very opposite of “what it should be”.
The endgame is that nobody has money and companies go bankrupt. The end.
The most perfected way to live our lives. That’s why aliens visit us you know… to study our highly advanced economic system. There is no rival in the universe. Perfection. /$
The wealthy have more time to shop around and more money to choose another option so companies think they need to provide extra incentives to get them which means better treatment and prices and etcetera.
The poor? Ehh gouge for all they are worth and hope they die so you don’t have to hear them complain.
Which is insane cause that means the poor are the profit margins allowing for the deals of the wealthy.The higher a percentage of your income is the price of something, the more reason there is to allocate time to find the best price - if something costs you an amount which you earn in 5 minutes, it’s not really worth it to spend time looking for the better price, if it costs an amount which you earn in 2 months, it’s definitelly worth to spend at least several hours looking around.
Granted, as you say, many don’t have the time to do this (though often the Maths for literally taking time of work to do it, do add up), and in my experience most people don’t really make the mental connection between an amount they’re considering spending and how long do they have to work to earn it hence don’t really look around enough when it’s financially logical to do it.
That said, for the reason I gave above, the rich don’t really care about things that “just” cost a couple thousand of dollars, which is why they casually just rent a private jet for a trip - there’s a whole industry for that - or even own one and employ a pilot for it fulltime.
The endgame is stuff as much money into one’s own pocket. That’s it.
The money is gonna be monopoly bills soon at this rate.
This is musical chairs, and everyone involved is desperately hoping that they won’t be one of the ones left without a seat when the music stops. Anybody with a plural number of brain cells must know deep down inside that infinite growth is literally impossible, but they all think they’ll be smart enough to cash out before it all collapses.
There’s a problem with that, though: Money has a notoriously poor nutritional value.
