Qatar Plans to Launch First AI Flight Attendant
The Daily Telegraph
SKIPPED
Details
- Date Published
- 1 Apr 2024
- Priority Score
- 1
- Australian
- No
- Created
- 8 Mar 2025, 02:41 pm
Description
Named Sama 2.0, the female faux staffer was rolled out at last week’s ITB Berlin trade show.
Summary
Qatar Airways is introducing a virtual flight attendant, Sama 2.0, which aims to enhance customer service through AI-driven digital human cabin crew. Demonstrated at the ITB Berlin trade show, this AI assistant can interact with passengers via their phones and kiosks, offering a personalized travel experience by recognizing and learning from customer behavior. Although Sama 2.0 is considered innovative within the airline industry, it does not directly address existential or catastrophic AI risks. The development primarily focuses on user experience improvements rather than safety governance issues, limiting its significance in the broader AI safety and policy discourse.
Body
Qatar plans to launch first AI flight attendantQatar Airways is adding virtual flight attendants as “digital human cabin crew” to assist customers at airports and onboard planes.Simone Mitchellless than 2 min readApril 1, 2024 - 4:32PMImage: QatarLifestyleDon't miss out on the headlines from Lifestyle. Followed categories will be added to My News.Named Sama 2.0, the female faux staffer was rolled out at last week’s ITB Berlin trade show.The airline demonstrated that a customer can speak into one’s phone with Sama answering on a large kiosk-like screen,video shows.The airline claimsthat the virtual cabin crew member — also accessiblethrough its metaverse, called the Qverse, and the Qatar app — is the first AI-powered customer assistance of its kind.Statements from the airline and developer UneeQ claim that the digital helper — whose name means “sky” in Arabic — blends “technology with empathy and personalisation” and offers “engaging interactions that mirror human conversation.”Image: QatarIt is designed to learn from customer behaviour through “comprehensive visual interactions” to “assist its passengers in designing curated travel experiences.”Image: QatarFlyers can make the most of Sama by tapping into Qatar’s Qverse. From there, the virtual helper can, for instance, guide passengers through 3D-mapped renderings of airports and answer travel-related questions about baggage, check-in and more in real time as they are typed or spoken into a chat module.The assistant is currently English-speaking only but is planned to have fluency in other languages, including Arabic, by later this year.Image: Qatar“This is a monumental point in spearheading the successful synergy between technology and human connection – not only for Qatar Airways but also for the industry at large,” company Marketing Vice President Babar Rahman said, adding that the interactions would be “approachable and friendly.”With NY PostOriginally published asQatar plans to launch first AI flight attendantMore related storiesLifestyleWhat is hantavirus? The rodent-borne illness everyone’s talking aboutThe rare disease commonly confused with the fluRead moreLifestyle8 best things to do in Bali’s hipster neighbourhood CangguBali's vibiest neighbourhood just keeps getting better and better.Read more