US House committee wants travel companies to answer questions on use of AI for pricing

Chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer (R-KY) speaks during the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing investigating fraud in Minnesota state social services, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 4, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno

WASHINGTON, March ⁠5 (Reuters) - The chair of ⁠the U.S. House Oversight Committee ‌on Thursday asked the CEOs of five major travel companies including ​Uber, Lyft and ⁠Expedia to disclose ⁠if they were using surveillance ⁠pricing ‌of consumers to hike costs.

Representative James ⁠Comer, the Republican chair of the ​committee, ‌raised concern in letters to ⁠the ​companies that the rise of surveillance pricing algorithms and ⁠use of highly personalized ​consumer data may create opportunities "for companies to weaponize personal data ⁠and pad their profit margins at the expense of providing transparency to consumers."

The ​companies, which also ⁠include Booking.com and Instacart, did ​not immediately respond ‌to requests for ​comment.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)