AIRLINE TELLS COURT ITS CHATBOT IS NOT ITS PROBLEM. COURT DISAGREES
What actually happened: Air Canada ordered to compensate passenger after its chatbot gave wrong refund information
IDIOCRACY LEVEL: 7/10
Air Canada's website chatbot told a passenger they could claim a bereavement discount after travelling, contradicting the airline's real policy. In February 2024 British Columbia's Civil Resolution Tribunal ruled the airline had not taken reasonable care to keep its chatbot accurate and ordered it to pay about C$812.
From the Hall of Justice: an airline argued that it could not be blamed for what its own website robot told a customer. The tribunal found that a company is in fact responsible for the words on its own website, a ruling legal scholars still call ambitious. Air Canada was ordered to pay roughly 812 Canadian dollars and said it would comply. The robot was not called to testify, as it had a prior engagement inventing other policies.