When AI Invents Facts, Whose Fault Is It?

In February, 2024, Air Canada made an unusual argument before a Canadian tribunal: Its website chatbot, which gave a grieving customer incorrect information about bereavement fares, was responsible for its own mistakes.

The tribunal wasn't convinced. Tribunal member Christopher Rivers called it "a remarkable submission" and wrote that Air Canada was responsible for all the information on its website, whether it came from a static page or a chatbot. The airline was ordered to pay damages for failing to take reasonable care to ensure the chatbot's information was accurate.

The amount was modest, but the principle wasn't. Companies are publishing more artificial intelligence-generated content than ever, including web copy, blog posts, comparison pages and sales collateral, and when that content is wrong, "the AI did it" doesn't hold up as a defense.

Blaming a vendor doesn't work either. Sports Illustrated published product reviews under fake author names with AI-generated headshots. Publisher The Arena Group blamed a third-party content vendor, AdVon Commerce, and said the articles were written by humans using pen names. The articles still ran under the Sports Illustrated name, and Arena Group's shares fell more than 22% after the report. Earlier that year, CNET issued corrections to more than half of its AI-generated articles after finding factual errors.

This story was originally published by SupplyChainBrain. Read the full story at SupplyChainBrain →