Lindsay Owens Proposes Shoppers Bill of Rights Against AI Pricing

Lindsay Owens, head of the Groundwork Collaborative and author of 'Gouged: The End of a Fair Price', warns that American consumers are facing a "reinvention of the rip-off" powered by AI and data mining. Owens argues that retailers use data brokers such as EverSight, Kronos, and Plexure to build detailed consumer profiles, enabling companies to personalize prices based on an individual's specific "pain point."

Owens contends that corporate boardrooms have prioritized aggressive revenue growth through algorithmic pricing, a shift she claims erodes the social contract between retailers and shoppers. While some companies, including Delta, Instacart, and Wendy's, have retreated from surge pricing following public backlash, Owens maintains that systemic price gouging requires legislative intervention.

To address these practices, Owens proposes a "shoppers' bill of rights" that would ban the use of shared software to coordinate prices and mandate that AI shopping assistants act in the best interest of the consumer. This push for updated federal and state consumer laws coincides with a review by the Federal Trade Commission, which is currently processing approximately 1,000 public comments regarding the regulation of surveillance pricing.