Instacart Halts AI Pricing Experiments That Increased Costs on Certain Items

Instacart is putting an end to its AI-driven pricing experiments, which had some users noticing discrepancies in prices for the same products. According to a recent blog post, “Now, if two families are shopping for the same items, at the same time, from the same store location on Instacart, they see the same prices — period.”

This decision follows a report from Groundwork Collaborative, Consumer Reports, and More Perfect Union, which revealed that Instacart was offering varying prices for identical grocery items at the same store. The findings caught the attention of lawmakers, including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who expressed concerns in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, stating that “consumers deserve to know when they are being placed into pricing tests.” Reports also indicated that the FTC has launched an investigation into Instacart’s AI pricing practices.

Instacart has announced that it will discontinue the use of the AI-powered Eversight technology, which it acquired in 2022, for conducting pricing tests. However, retailers will still have the option to adjust prices on a store-by-store basis. The company clarified that these pricing tests “were never based on supply or demand, personal data, demographics, or individual shopping behavior.”

Additionally, Instacart recently settled for $60 million with the FTC over unrelated allegations of deceptive practices, including misleading claims about free shipping. The company stated, “We’ve listened carefully to feedback from our customers. And we understand that the tests we ran with a small number of retail partners that resulted in different prices for the same item at the same store missed the mark for some customers.”