ATLANTA — Consumer advocates are raising new concerns about technology that could allow retailers to charge different shoppers different prices for the same product, a practice often called “personalized pricing” or “surveillance pricing.”
The concerns come after new patent filings from Walmart revealed artificial intelligence technology that could potentially be used to help set prices.
“If a company has a technology that’s going to allow them to earn more money from consumers, I don’t see why they wouldn’t use it,” said Emily Peterson-Cassen of the Consumer Federation of America.
The issue has been on the radar of Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray since a 2025 investigation into surveillance pricing.
In that investigation, Channel 2 Action News partnered with sister stations across the country to test whether online prices varied between shoppers.
Dozens of people in eight cities checked prices on the same products multiple times a day at major retailers.
One of the most striking examples involved a television listed on Walmart’s website.
One Atlanta-area shopper was shown a price of more than $1,000, while other shoppers checking the same item at roughly the same time saw prices under $900.
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“We only noticed this because we were actually looking for it,” one shopper said during the investigation.
Peterson-Cassen said many consumers would never know if pricing algorithms were using data collected about them.
“Companies know there’s money to be made by surveilling us, by learning things about us that point to the highest price we’re willing to pay,” she said.
In response to growing concerns, Walmart recently posted a public letter from its CEO denying the company uses or plans to use personalized pricing.
“We price the product, not the person,” the company said.
Walmart also stated: “We don’t set different prices based on who you are or the time of day, and we won’t.”
Gray reached out to Walmart for comment last week. The company did not respond directly but posted the statement on its website the following day.
The issue is also drawing attention from federal regulators.
The Federal Trade Commission recently accepted public comments on a proposed rule that would require companies to disclose when they use a consumer’s personal data to determine pricing.
Some states are already taking action. Maryland recently approved legislation banning certain forms of personalized pricing.
In Georgia, lawmakers have introduced bills addressing the issue during the past two legislative sessions, but none have advanced.
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