Lies, damned lies, and AI
Maybe you are familiar with the phrase 'There are lies, damned lies, and statistics' which can be traced to the early 1900. There is a debate about the attribution, where Mark Twain is mentioned as one of the potential authors. The author of the phrase tried to convey that data 'properly' presented can support any argument, even two opposite views about the same topic, with the same numbers.
The phrase came to me when I was reading about the initiative at Delta Air Lines in connection with the AI pricing.
A few weeks ago, when I was writing about the questionable term 'AI Strategy' I mentioned in passing the latest project at Delta Air Lines, where the company wants to introduce 'customized pricing' for each individual passenger. Fortunately, Delta is a public company and to alleviate any doubts, here is a quote from the earning call where the CEO said 'That we will have a price that's available on that flight, on that time to you, the individual. Not a machine that's doing an accept reject and a static price grid. We've started this and I'd say what we have today with AI is we have a super analyst.'
One can easily extrapolate that this 'super analyst' will have access to every public and company internal record about every single passenger which flew with Delta Air Lines. Thanks to the government regulations, when you are buying a ticket, you have to submit your full name, your frequent flyer number, your date of birth, your phone number and email address (not optional). With that information, Delta can find out - at minimum - where you live, your employer, your credit score.
After that, it will present you with different pricing options. That will determine your price sensitivity. The urgency for your flight can be determined from how close to the departure day you want to book the flight. And these are just a few data points the airline collects about you.
Now, it is time to set the 'right' price. You might think 'Is that even worthwhile for Delta to do this because of me?' In case you were wondering, Delta, according to its own website, serves almost 200 million customers yearly! No wonder that the CEO is so excited about this project.
Imagine if the 'super analyst' can add just $10 per customer. That's $2 billion per year. Delta's operating income was $6 billion in 2024. Now you can appreciate the excitement!
One can understand the CEO perspective - to maximize the organization's profit for the benefit of its shareholders. The question is if the same CEO would walk into a grocery store, witnessing that a person in front of him would pay $4 for a bottle of milk and he would be asked to pay $100. Would the word 'fair' come to his mind?
Somehow, it reminds me of a quote from the past, 'From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs' How ironic.
Actually, the word 'fair' came to the minds of the US Senators Ruben Gallego, Mark Warner and Richard Blumenthal when they questioned the proposed business practice and sent a list of questions to Delta.
The answer quite nicely describes the term 'cognitive dissonance'. The letter from Delta - carefully worded and vetted by army of lawyers - to the lawmakers states that 'There is no fare product Delta has ever used, is testing or plans to use that targets customers with individualized prices based on personal data, ...', 'Our ticket pricing never takes into account personal data.'
Delta people, do explain to me how you can set a '... price that's available on that flight, on that time to you, the individual ...' without ever taking ' ... into account personal data.'
The recurrent pattern? With your permission, I would use my closing remarks from my TEDx talk, In AI We Trust:
Yes, we should be worried about the future where AI is taking over. Where machines will decide if you can get a loan, will screen your job application or decide if you should stay in jail. All that without any recall.
But, it is not AI we should fear. We should fear humans who deploy the technology and deny you the opportunity to question it and make your own decisions.
What can we do?
We can demand transparency and hold accountable the people and corporations that are implementing it. That’s our human right. That’s our responsibility.