联合航空不想应付你的人工智能代理。这家航空公司周三表示，将阻止个人人工智能助手访问其系统进行订票。
United Airlines doesn’t want to deal with your AI agent. The airline said Wednesday that it will prevent personal artificial-intelligence assistants from accessing its systems to book tickets.
联合航空担心这些机器人可能泄露客户的敏感信息或进行非本意的购买。该公司还表示，人工智能的自动化操作可能违反美国联邦航空管理局和交通部关于航空公司必须向客户提供哪些信息的规定。例如，人工智能代理无法在办理登机手续时证明行李中不含爆炸物。
United cited concerns that the bots could expose customers’ sensitive information or make unintended purchases. It also said automated AI actions could violate Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Department rules governing the information airlines must present to customers. An AI agent can’t, for example, attest during check-in that bags don’t contain explosives.
银行、零售商以及其他一系列公司都在设法应对Meta的Muse和OpenAI的Dots等代理的兴起，这些代理承诺处理生活中的许多麻烦事，从网上购物到安排预约。这项技术的早期使用者经常用它来货比三家，寻找最低价格。
Banks, retailers and a range of other companies are grappling with how best to handle the rise of agents like Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s Dots that promise to take care of many of life’s nuisances, from online shopping to scheduling appointments. Early adopters of the technology often use it to comparison shop and search for the lowest prices.
代理仍然有办法向客户展示联合航空的航班选项和价格，但无法在其网站上完成交易。
Agents will still have ways to show customers United’s flight options and prices, but they won’t be able to transact on its website.
一些公司已将代理视为潜在的新销售渠道，或着手开发自己的代理。另一些公司则在抵制他们认为可能干扰其通过广告触达客户能力的新中间商。
Some companies have embraced agents as a potential new sales channel or moved to develop their own. Others are pushing back against what they see as a new middleman that could disrupt their ability to reach customers with advertising.
航空公司以前就打过这种仗，多年来一直与在线旅行社等中间商就机票的展示和销售方式争执不休。
Airlines have had this fight before, spending years wrestling with intermediaries like online travel agencies over the way their tickets are displayed and sold.
其他美国航空公司尚未公开表态反对人工智能代理，但联合航空加入了亚马逊等公司的行列，将购买机器人拒之门外。
Other U.S. airlines haven’t taken a public stance against AI agents, but United is joining companies like Amazon that are keeping the purchasing bots away.
联合航空表示，目前尚未看到很多来自人工智能代理的预订。其后台技术系统可以识别预订的来源，无论是个人、传统旅行社还是人工智能代理。
United said it isn’t yet seeing many bookings from AI agents. Its back-end tech systems can identify the source of a booking, whether it’s an individual, a traditional travel agency or an AI agent.
联合航空首席执行官斯科特·柯比经常宣扬该航空公司的技术实力，并表示他相信人工智能可以成为一种变革性工具。他说，在与一位导师进行了三次各一小时的课程后，他能够凭感觉编写出自己的体育博彩应用，由此认识到了人工智能的潜力。
United Chief Executive Scott Kirby often touts the airline’s technology bona fides and has said he believes AI can be a transformational tool. He said he recognized the potential of AI after he was able to vibe-code his own sports betting app with just three hourlong sessions with a tutor.
在周二于芝加哥举行的一场活动上，柯比承认，这些工具在应对运营挑战和其他复杂问题方面可以发挥强大作用，但公司可能会对代理式商务采取谨慎态度。“说实话，我不想再制造一个中间商，”柯比周二说。
At a Tuesday event in Chicago, Kirby acknowledged the tools can be powerful in addressing operational challenges and other complex problems, but that the company would likely take a cautious approach to agentic commerce. “To be honest, I don’t want to create another middleman,” Kirby said Tuesday.
与被动回答问题的聊天机器人不同，人工智能代理可以在网上完成一系列任务。规划旅行会让潜在旅行者面对令人眼花缭乱的各种决定和需要敲定的预订，这是人工智能代理最有前景的功能之一。
Unlike chatbots that passively answer questions, AI agents can complete a range of tasks online. Planning a trip, which confronts would-be travelers with a bewildering array of decisions and reservations to nail down, is one of their most promising functions.
OpenAI本周收购了Odessia，这是一家开发用于预订旅行的人工智能的初创公司。Meta平台首席执行官马克·扎克伯格上个月表示，旅行规划是其Muse代理最主要的用途之一。
OpenAI this week purchased Odessia, a startup developing artificial intelligence for booking travel. Meta Platforms Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said last month that travel planning is one of the top use-cases for its Muse agent.
企业表示，目前尚未看到大量代理进行预订。优步科技本月早些时候表示，在繁忙的万圣节当周，其司机在优步和优步外卖上完成了3.2亿次行程。人工智能代理仅完成了500笔优步外卖订单和4次叫车预订。
Companies have said they aren’t seeing an onslaught of agents making bookings yet. Uber Technologies earlier this month said that during the busy Halloween week, its drivers made 320 million trips on Uber and Uber Eats. AI agents made just 500 of the Uber Eats orders and four ride bookings.
尽管如此，旅游业已开始应对人工智能代理，以及它们最终可能在为客户规划旅行中扮演的角色。
Still, the travel industry is starting to grapple with AI agents and the role they could eventually play in planning trips for customers.
西南航空今年早些时候在ChatGPT中推出了一款“插件”，让客户可以使用这款人工智能聊天机器人搜索其库存并查找航班。西南航空首席执行官鲍勃·乔丹称，这是测试客户可能如何使用人工智能的一种方式。
Southwest Airlines earlier this year launched a “plug-in” in ChatGPT to allow customers to use the AI chatbot to search its inventory and find flights. Southwest CEO Bob Jordan described that as a way to test out how customers might use AI.
达美航空表示，人工智能助手在通过身份验证后能够完成预订，但该航空公司对“敏感交易”设有额外保障措施，例如无成人陪伴儿童的行程。
Delta said AI assistants, when authenticated, are able to complete bookings, though the carrier has additional safeguards for “sensitive transactions” like trips for unaccompanied minors.
美联航表示，随着个人AI助手不断演进，公司将继续评估相关工具。与此同时，美联航鼓励其他公司“考虑采取措施，保护客户的数据与安全，并加强安全性”。
United said it would continue to evaluate the tools as personal AI assistants evolve. Meanwhile, it encouraged other companies to “consider measures that preserve the data and security of their customers and strengthen safety.”