# How companies are using AI to make you spend more money

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/how-companies-are-using-ai-to-make-you-spend-more-money/
- Published: 2026-11-11T23:35:05+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-12T00:35:24+00:00
- Original publisher: PBS NewsHour (publisher lean: Centre)
- Original article: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-companies-are-using-ai-to-make-you-spend-more-money
- Topics: AI, Americas, Politics, Technology, World

## Key points

- Instacart shoppers saw different prices for identical items.
- Price gaps reached 23 per cent in the study.
- Walmart says personal data will not determine individual prices.

## Summary

Companies are increasingly using algorithms and personal data to adjust prices, drawing scrutiny as consumers face rising costs. A study of Instacart shopping found that many people were offered different prices for the same items at the same time, raising questions about how far personalised pricing could spread.

Researchers compared screenshots from 400 US shoppers who bought the same 20 items from the same stores. They found 75 per cent of items had different prices, with gaps of up to 23 per cent; Instacart later stopped the experiment. Researchers also examined 315 patents, including Walmart applications describing wearable-device data, while Walmart says it will not use individual customer information to set prices.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.