new york
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Online grocery delivery service Instacart used AI to charge different prices for the same item, up to 20% more for each shopper, according to a new report.
An investigation by Consumer Reports and the Groundwork Collaborative revealed Tuesday that Instacart was displaying different prices for the same household items sold at big-name stores such as Albertsons, Costco, Kroger, Safeway and Target. The report states that customers are “unwittingly participating in a wide range of AI-powered experiments.”
“These corporate practices are driving up prices for American households. When prices are not transparent, shoppers are unable to compare shop. When prices are unpredictable, shoppers are unable to budget properly,” the groups said in the report.
According to the report, Instacart uses AI measures how “price sensitive” a customer is. That means how much a grocer can charge for an item before the shopper decides not to buy it. This is different from dynamic pricing, where prices change instantly depending on supply and demand.
“That motive was supported by an email exchange between Instacart and Costco that was inadvertently sent to (Consumer Reports) after Costco was contacted for comment on the findings,” the report said. (Costco did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.)
The report comes at a time when Americans are concerned about rising food costs due in part to tariffs, immigration crackdowns and extreme weather events that affect the food supply.
Instacart was chosen because it is “by far the leading e-commerce” grocery service, with more than 250 million orders in the first three quarters of 2025, the groups said.
The study asked 437 participants to buy identical products on the service and compare them with in-store prices. The investigation found that “all volunteer shoppers who participated in the test were subject to algorithmic price experiments.”
For example, the retail price for 12 eggs sold on Instacart at one Safeway location in Washington, D.C., ranged from $3.99 to $4.28, $4.59, and $4.79. In another test, the price of a box of Safeway's private label Corn Flakes varied by 23% between the lowest and highest prices. — from $2.99 to $3.69.
Shoppers who rely on Instacart could see a total “approximately $1,200 annual cost change” due to the AI-powered technology the service uses, the report said.
Instacart said in a comment to CNN that each retailer's pricing policies will be displayed in-store on its app and website, allowing customers to see the difference between online and in-store prices. (The prices of products sold on these apps are often higher due to labor and other fees.)
“Just as retailers have long tested prices in-store to better understand consumer preferences, some of our only 10 retail partners (those that have already applied price increases) are doing the same online through Instacart,” the spokesperson said.
Instacart added that “limited, short-term, randomized testing” will help retailers decide which essential items to offer to customers at affordable prices.
