AI-assisted pricing at US retailers fuels consumer unease and state bills

American shoppers are increasingly uneasy about how major retailers and restaurant chains set prices, as artificial intelligence tools and electronic shelf labels spread across US stores. On social media, terms such as "dynamic pricing" and "surveillance pricing" have fuelled questions about whether different customers pay different amounts for the same item.

Fluctuating fares for flights, hotels and rides are familiar, but the idea of everyday purchases being shaped by opaque algorithms and personal data has struck a nerve. Katie Thomas, who heads a consumer behavior think tank at consulting firm Kearney, described a growing tension over whether companies or shoppers will hold the upper hand as bots and AI enter pricing.

Retailers push back on fears

Walmart CEO John Furner wrote in a September 2026 blog post that digital tags save staff time and keep prices current, and are not used to raise prices according to weather, time of day or individual customers. "We price the product, not the person," he wrote. Thomas said social media posts falsely suggesting Walmart's labels scan faces or phones reflect suspicion fed by limited corporate transparency about data collection.

Asa Farquhar of retail technology firm Relex Solutions said stores typically update shelf prices on a set schedule, often weekly, and that intraday changes are exceedingly rare in grocery. Web data company Decodo said roughly half of the US price changes it tracked in 2025 were decreases.

States and the FTC move in

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, lawmakers in at least 30 states considered pricing bills this year, including measures on algorithmic and personalized pricing. Maryland, New Jersey and Connecticut have enacted limits on using personal data to set what shoppers pay. The Federal Trade Commission has proposed an enforcement policy warning that failing to disclose such data use could breach consumer protection law. An FTC staff report from January 2025 found that intermediaries selling price-tailoring tools served at least 250 clients.

Earlier disputes show the stakes. California prosecutors sued Target in 2022, alleging its app raised prices once shoppers entered stores; Target agreed to a $5 million settlement and a geofencing ban while denying it personalized prices. Instacart ended tests that randomly assigned shoppers to price groups after an investigation found differing prices for identical products.

How widely retailers rely on AI remains unclear, but adoption appears to be rising. In a Simon-Kucher survey of more than 2,200 executives in 28 countries, 41% said they used AI to gather market intelligence such as competitor prices, and 28% for real-time price optimization.