In 2024, a Canadian tribunal ordered Air Canada to honour a refund policy that its website chatbot had invented. The airline argued the chatbot was responsible for its own words. The tribunal disagreed: the company is responsible for everything on its website.
What builders owe users
- Keep chatbots to topics they can answer reliably, and hand off the rest to people.
- Show sources for policies and prices.
- Monitor answers and fix errors quickly.
What users can do
Screenshot important answers, and confirm anything involving money, health or legal rights with a person.
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