After a report that found Instacart was using an AI tool that charged some customers as much as 23% more for the exact same items, the shopping platform now says they’re abandoning that tool following some serious blowback.
It was a pretty big online shopping scandal earlier this month — and came about two weeks before Christmas — when an independent investigation found that SF-based delivery platform Instacart was using an AI “pricing test” algorithm that was charging certain customers as much as 23% higher prices for the exact same items, from the exact same store, purchased at the exact same time. The investigation found one Washington, DC Safeway where Instacart was charging different shoppers anywhere between $3.99 and $4.79 for the same carton of eggs.
Right now, Instacart is quietly running experiments on millions of us while we shop for groceries online. They are trying to figure out exactly how much they can get away with charging you for breakfast cereal, lunch meat, pasta, and everything in between. How do I know? 1/9 pic.twitter.com/sbmcBUrczg
— Lindsay Owens (@owenslindsay1) December 9, 2025
The practice seemed so unfair that even Donald Trump’s Federal Trade Commission noticed, and threatened to open a federal probe of Instacart. “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 last week to Reuters.
Now it seems the pushback has gotten to be too much for Instacart. The SF Business Times reports that Instacart is ending the AI price-testing practice, claiming that they will no longer conduct these tests "effective immediately.”
“We understand that the tests we ran with a small number of retail partners that resulted in different prices for the same item at the same store missed the mark for some customers,” Instacart said in a Monday company blog post. “At a time when families are working exceptionally hard to stretch every grocery dollar, those tests raised concerns, leaving some people questioning the prices they see on Instacart. That’s not okay – especially for a company built on trust, transparency, and affordability.”
“Effective immediately, Instacart is ending all item price tests on our platform,” the company continued. “Retailers will no longer be able to use Eversight technology to run item price tests on Instacart.
They refer to a technology called Eversight, an AI startup that Instacart acquired in 2022, presumably to bring AI to Instacart pricing and promotions. And while Instacart says their Eversight “price tests” are being discontinued immediately, the Eversight page on Instacart is still active, and still lists several mega-brands using it.
So AI may still be determining some of the prices you pay on any platform. But one very specific form of AI price manipulation on Instacart is at least no longer happening, which may save a few Instacart shoppers some money right during the holidays.
Image: Toronto, Canada- November 14, 2020: Instacart company closeup sign is seen in Toronto, Canada. Instacart is an American company that operates a grocery delivery and pick-up service. (Getty Images)
