Grocery Stores Accused Of Using AI For Illegal Price Gouging. 'What They're Doing Here Is Illegal."

[bronxiteforever]

Off the Front Page by Ivana Cesnik
December 13, 2025
4 min.read

A months-long investigation by More Perfect Union, Consumer Reports, and Groundwork Collaborative found that major grocery retailers and tech companies are using artificial intelligence to quietly charge different shoppers different prices for the same items, both online and possibly in-store.

The report centers on Instacart, which provides the back-end technology for online grocery shopping across dozens of major retailers.

To test the theory, the research team recruited more than 400 volunteers. Each person placed the same 20-item order on Instacart from the same grocery store at the same time. Every participant selected either pickup or used the same delivery address to control for location-based differences.
Despite identical conditions, users reported price totals that varied by as much as $10.

“We’re in the same room, the same address ordering, and we still had different prices,” one test participant said.

Katie Wells, a lead researcher with Groundwork Collaborative, found that nearly three out of every four products had different prices. In one example, the price of eggs ranged from $4.28 to $4.69 at the same store, at the same moment.

Much More here
https://offthefrontpage.com/grocery-stores-accused-of-using-ai-for-illegal-price-gouging/

[MerryBlooms]

1. Next check gas stations. Some here in southern Oregon, changing by .10 every other day

[Initech]

4. I noticed some weird shit happening to my gas prices lately.

It was at $4.20 for a while, then it dropped to $3.89, now it's up to $4.30.

[dalton99a]

2. Kick

Under Khan’s leadership, the FTC began investigating algorithmic price discrimination. But her replacement has paused public comments on the matter, casting doubt on whether the probe will continue.

States like California and New York have started passing laws banning similar AI-powered pricing tactics in housing markets, and some consumer advocates are calling for states to take the lead.

“We need a 360 view to try to understand what’s really happening here,” Khan said.

Kulinski echoed that sentiment: “This is all happening because billionaires want to squeeze every single penny they possibly can out of you.”

The investigation may not have revealed every piece of the puzzle, but one thing is clear: AI-driven grocery pricing systems are already here, and regulators may be racing to catch up.

[Hugin]

3. I'm not going to dispute the conclusions.

I will bring up that the methodology may be confounded by other acknowledged retail practices. If all of the participants are ordering the same items at nearly the same time from the same stores. The stores may have inventory control systems that price based on stock. Prices may be higher for high demand items. In other words, the individual shoppers may not be targeted. It could be the items on the shared list. This would be business.

[AZJonnie]

5. Excellent point

Should be fairly simple to devise a test for, the most obvious one being tracking the moment each item was put in each cart and seeing if the price rise tracks temporally.

Also if everyone shops with their browser in incognito mode and shop as a "guest" (if that's possible) you could see whether things work the same way as when you're logged in and not in incognito.