US EditionInstacart’s AI technology is hiking prices as much as 20% for the same item, new study reveals
AI-driven tests by Instacart caused price differences averaging 13%, impacting grocery bills by up to $1,200 annually, researchers found in a multi-city study.
- A new study found that Instacart's AI pricing tools caused many U.S. shoppers to pay higher or lower prices for identical products from the same store.
- The organizations enlisted 437 shoppers across four cities to test prices on the Instacart app from various retailers like Target and Costco.
- Almost 75% of the tested items were offered at different prices to shoppers, with costs varying by around 7% for the same basket at a single store.
83 Articles
83 Articles
Advocate says Instacart pricing may violate laws, urges attorney general action
After a report showed that Instacart charges some customers up to 23 percent more for the same item, Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, urged state attorneys general to investigate the practice.She said Instacarts pricing experiments erode fairness and transparency in markets and harm consumers, adding that charging different prices for identical items may violate the law.This is why we have laws to safeguard our …
Instacart Caught Using AI to Charge Wildly Different Prices for the Same Item
Does your online grocery order ever feel fishy, like the prices just aren’t adding up? It turns out you’re right to be suspicious — and now we have compelling evidence. New research by a consortium of groups including Groundwork Collaborative, Consumer Reports, and More Perfect Union have found evidence of a massive experiment being run on consumers by grocery delivery company Instacart. The researchers’ experiments found evidence that Instacart…
Instacart’s AI pricing experiment drives up costs for some shoppers, study says
Instacart is using AI-enabled pricing experiments that are substantially raising the prices of identical products for different customers, according to an investigation by Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative. By comparing shopping carts of consumers who were instructed to buy the same products on the platform at the same time, researchers found that in some cases the price difference was as high as 23%.Lindsay Owens, the executive dire…
Instacart's algorithm is quietly charging people different prices for the same groceries
A months-long joint investigation by Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative has uncovered widespread price testing on Instacart's grocery delivery platform. The research shows that identical grocery items sometimes cost different amounts for each customer. The disparity is sometimes as much as 23 percent. Investigators detected the tests at several of...Read Entire Article
Hastings Tribune
Instacart is charging different prices to different customers in a dangerous AI experiment, report says
The grocery delivery service Instacart is using artificial intelligence to experiment with prices and charge some shoppers more than others for the same items, a new study found.
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