How AI Enables Higher Food Prices and Corporate Profits

How AI Enables Higher Food Prices and Corporate Profits

In December 2025, a Consumer Reports investigation found that the food delivery platform Instacart was conducting a pricing experiment. Using artificial intelligence (AI), Instacart charged shoppers different prices for the same items to see how much different people were willing to pay. Consumer Reports projected that the price swings it saw could amount to some families paying as much as $1200 more for groceries in a year. (In the wake of the …