United Airlines has become the latest company to slap restrictions on unauthorized third-party AI agents, warning that the bots could make unintended purchases, expose customer data, or bypass checks requiring human acknowledgment. The airline announced restrictions covering both its own digital platforms and indirect access through travel agencies and aggregators, with changes to its booking, ticketing, and distribution policies. United says automated actions could violate aviation regulations, citing the requirement for a human acknowledgment during check-in that bags contain no banned substances. A bot cheerfully ticking the box isn’t quite the passenger confirmation it has in mind. And then there is the worry that "sharing account credentials with personal, third-party, AI assistants can expose sensitive information, and actions taken by these tools may result in unintended purchases, account changes, or use of MileagePlus miles." United would also rather customers use its own app than turn third-party assistants loose on its systems. AI agents are pitched as a way to outsource life’s minutiae, and it’s difficult to navigate the web without tripping over a breathless influencer explaining why you need one, or dozens, or hundreds of virtual personal assistants…
