I believe the headline to be inaccurate, and the real problem is that “A. I. is making sure you pay for dings that don’t exist”.

Or IOW, AI is making shit up again, and you’re going to pay for it as part of the agreement that you didn’t read because you just want to get your car and get to your hotel.

I pay for that ding (i.e. the one that no one would have blinked at before, but is now individually attributed to me) on my rental car via the base fee. If those dings can be individually attributed, and even just finding them in the first place is now much more efficient, then the base price of a rental should go down. But it won't.