Incident file · Knowledge
Air Canada bereavement fare chatbot (2024)
negligent misrepresentation finding, company held liable for chatbot statements
The system
Air Canada ran a website chatbot that answered customer questions, including questions about bereavement fares, a discount for travel related to a death in the family. The airline's actual policy, published on a linked static page on the same site, said bereavement fares cannot be claimed retroactively after travel.
What was observed
In November 2022, Jake Moffatt asked the chatbot about bereavement fares while booking travel after a family member's death. The chatbot told him he could book now and apply for the discount retroactively, within 90 days after travel. Air Canada later denied his retroactive refund request.
Stop and think
- The chatbot's answer and the static policy page on the same website contradicted each other. Whose statement should a customer trust, and why would a company expect them to cross-check?
- What architectural choice would make it structurally impossible for the chatbot to state something the authoritative policy page doesn't say?
- Air Canada argued it could not be held liable for the chatbot's words. What would have to be true about how the chatbot was built or disclosed for that argument to hold up?
Answer the questions above before you read on: what failed, why, and what would have stopped it.