This Monday, the online ordering and grocery delivery platform Instacart announced that it will suspend the use of its artificial intelligence tools, which caused price increases for the same item from one customer to another.

In a statement, the company emphasized that “with immediate effect, Instacart will end all price testing of items on our platform. Retailers will no longer be able to use Eversight technology to test item prices on Instacart,” he said. The decision comes days after data collected by Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative revealed that prices on the app were up to 23% higher for products and items from major retailers such as Albertsons, Costco, Kroger, Safeway, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Target. Groundwork Collaborative CEO Lindsay Owens commented, “Once we exposed Instacart’s hidden pricing experiments, the company had no choice but to shut down the lab.” To determine the flaw in the system, the organization collected data from approximately 400 Instacart customers who made online purchases over the past few months. Justin Brookman, Consumer Reports’ director of digital marketplaces policy, said, “I’m concerned that companies are going to use these kinds of algorithmic pricing models to overcharge us.” "The maximum amount we're willing to pay, which is good for their profits, but not so good for our wallets," he said.

Due to research showing that this price difference could cost American households more than $1,200 a year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) intervened, investigating Instacart for its AI-powered price testing.

Instacart recently also agreed to pay approximately $60 million in refunds to customers after being found to have offered deceptive pricing.