“Surge Pricing” in American grocery stores has arrived

Kroger partnered with Microsoft to introduce AI-powered technologies for personalized pricing

“Kroger just rolled out surge pricing using facial recognition technology:

- Determine the maximum price of goods customers are willing to pay
- Kroger has the ability to change the prices of their products depending on the facial image of the person buying them
- Depending on the image of the person buying the product, they can access our information and dictate that price
- Can also use our image to determine how often we buy certain products and increase the price of that product
- Dynamic pricing in grocery stores could resemble the airline industry's ticket pricing strategies

“This could lead to discriminatory practices using AI as a scapegoat to charge people of different races, different socioeconomic status, different family sizes, and different dietary restrictions different prices for the same products that they are buying”

(Kroger, the largest grocery chain in the U.S., denied claims that ESLs would be used for surge pricing, insisting its pricing strategy aims to lower costs for consumers. "To be clear, Kroger does not and has never engaged in 'surge pricing.' Any test of electronic shelf tags is designed to lower prices for more customers where it matters most”) … Yeah right