Seattle Bans AI-Based Grocery Pricing in US First
The ordinance bars stores from using personal data to set individualized food prices and requires prices to be posted equally for all shoppers.
- On Monday, Mayor Katie Wilson signed the Fair and Transparent Pricing ordinance into law, making Seattle the first city to ban large grocery chains from using personal data and artificial intelligence for individualized pricing.
- Lawmakers passed the measure to prevent AI-assisted price gouging, barring retailers from using browsing history, location, or social media activity to set individualized prices for shoppers.
- Labor and consumer groups including UFCW 3000, MLK Labor, and Consumer Reports championed the ordinance. Secretary-Treasurer Sean Embly said it helps "protect our neighborhood stores" from practices that prioritize profits over people.
- While the grocery industry warned the measure could force stores to end discount programs, the ordinance follows similar state-level actions on surveillance pricing in Maryland, Connecticut, and New Jersey.
- The Fair and Transparent Pricing ordinance takes effect September 1, 2027, requiring all food prices to be clearly posted and made available equally to every shopper.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Known knowns are the worst knowns
Seattle just passed a new grocery pricing bill. When I first heard about it, I couldn’t make sense of it. The bill prohibits pricing based on the store’s surveillance of customers. I thought, what surveillance? I go to the store; I look at the goods. They are all marked with prices. Sometimes there are member discounts, so I know members get better deals, but it’s not like the store is watching me and changing the prices based on who I am or who…
This city just banned grocery stores from using your personal data and AI to set prices — and it's a first in the nation
Imagine filling an online grocery cart, only to wonder whether the price of milk or eggs was shaped by where you live, what you searched for or something you told a chatbot. It’s a real consumer worry as grocery prices continue to skyrocket.
Seattle votes to ban grocery 'surveillance pricing'. Your data shouldn't set your food bill.
Seattle's City Council voted 7-2 on September 22 to prohibit certain grocery pricing practices that use personal information to decide what customers pay. Consumer Reports supported the measure and helped the mayor's office develop it.The concept of "surveillance pricing" is straightforward. A company finds out about you, uses that information in a price-setting system, and adjusts the prices you see. In January 2025, the Federal Trade Commissio…
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