Why Instacart Backtracked on an AI-Pricing Experiment
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Why Instacart Backtracked on an AI-Pricing Experiment
-
Narrated by:
-
By:
About this listen
This month, the think-tank the Groundwork Collaborative, Consumer Reports and the news nonprofit More Perfect Union released a report finding that Instacart had been using an AI tool to run algorithmic price experiments on shoppers around the country. As a result, shoppers were being charged different prices for the exact same items from the exact same stores.
At a time when inflation has driven grocery costs higher, the revelation that Instacart was charging some consumers more for the same goods struck a chord.
On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder speaks with Bloomberg’s antitrust reporter Leah Nylen and the Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens about the report’s findings and impact — and Instacart’s decision to end their experiment.
Read more: Instacart to Pay $60 Million to Settle FTC Consumer Protection Case
Hosted by: Sarah Holder; Produced by: Rachael Lewis-Krisky; Reported by: Leah Nylen; Edited by: Naomi Shavin and Aaron Edwards; Fact-checking by: Julia Press; Engineering by: Katie McMurran.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin. Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.