By Jody Godoy
Dec 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is probing Instacart, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as the retail platform faces criticism over its artificial intelligence-driven pricing tool.
The agency has sent the company a civil investigative demand, the sources said. The FTC is seeking information about Instacart’s Eversight pricing tool, one of the sources said.
The software, which allows retailers on Instacart to experiment with different prices using AI, drew criticism after a recent study showed different shoppers got different prices for the same groceries on Instacart.
“The Federal Trade Commission has a longstanding policy of not commenting on any potential or ongoing investigations. But, like so many Americans, we are disturbed by what we have read in the press about Instacart’s alleged pricing practices,” the FTC said in a statement.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York; editing by Chris Sanders and David Gregorio)
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