Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas) proposed the ‘Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act of 2025‘ this week.
“Now that AI is developing so quickly, we need the law also to develop,” U.S. Representative of the 35th District of Texas Greg Casar said.
The legislation would prohibit practices like airlines raising prices for customers after learning their personal search histories.
“It should just be banned for an airline to know that you have been googling a family obituary and then they jack up your airline ticket prices because they know you’re desperate to get to a funeral,” Casar said.
The proposed legislation from Casar comes as Delta Air Lines says it plans to deploy AI-based revenue management technology across 20% of its domestic network by the end of 2025.
In his earnings report on Thursday, American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said in part, “Consumers need to know that they can trust American. This is not about bait and switch. This is not about tricking. Others that talk about using AI in that way, I don’t think it’s appropriate. And certainly, from American, it’s not something we will do.”
American says it will use AI to improve how it operates the airline and customer experience including an AI investment that allows the airline to rebuild after operational difficulties.
Southwest Airlines told NBC 5 it does not use AI in its pricing models.
For other companies that are using personal information when setting prices, the advances continue to evolve.
“What zip code are you logging on from? Is it a more affluent zip code? Maybe I can charge you a little more. Are you logging on from a PC or from a Mac? If it’s the latter, maybe I can charge you a bit more,” Lindsay Owens, Ph.D, Executive Director of the Groundwork Collaborative said.
Casar said there needs to be more transparency around the use of consumers’ data and artificial intelligence and said he sees a surveillance price ban as an issue that could attract bipartisan support.
Great Job Shannon Miller and KXAN-TV & the Team @ NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth Source link for sharing this story.
