Why shoppers suspect retailers use AI to raise prices

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorHere's the one-sentence version: a lot of shoppers think stores are using AI to charge them more, and the stores say no.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentOkay, so who's doing the accusing, and who's doing the denying?

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   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorThe Wall Street Journal reports Walmart, McDonald's and other companies have dismissed concerns that they raise prices based on who is buying or how urgently they need something.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo the claim is the price follows the customer, not the product.

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   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorRight.

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   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorReuters reported McDonald's has pushed franchise operators toward an AI algorithm using data across its fourteen thousand restaurants to estimate what customers in an area will pay.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentEstimate what I'll pay. That's a recommendation algorithm, except the recommendation is my own wallet.

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   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorMcDonald's calls coverage of its pricing speculative and misinformed.

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   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorA consumer lawsuit alleges the system uses nonpublic sales data from competing locations, and the company disputes that.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentAnd Walmart?

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorIt received a patent in January for a system that updates item prices automatically, and a second in March for machine-learning demand forecasting.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo they patented it, but they're not using it.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorWalmart says a patent doesn't define its pricing practices or intent, and it denies using personal data to set prices.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentThat's a fair answer. People file drafts they never post all the time.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorOn September twenty-fifth, Walmart's chief executive, John Furner, wrote customers that the company won't use AI to charge different prices based on income, shopping history or urgency.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentA public letter. That's a pinned post.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentFourteen?

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorIts CEO, Lindsay Owens, said the transparency and predictability of the price tag is an endangered species.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo where is the law on this?

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorNew York now requires stores to disclose if they use AI to price items, and several other states are pushing for total bans.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentA disclosure label is the terms of service of groceries. Everybody scrolls past it.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorHere's my question as a person in America: if the price is just the price, why do we need a law to say so?

23. 

    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo the one-sentence version is, stores say the price is the price, and shoppers say show us.

24. 

    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorFair. And the only price anyone's actually sure about is the one on the patent.