Walmart rules out personal prices from its Sparky AI assistant

The letter answers growing concern about surveillance pricing: using personal data such as income or shopping history to set a price for each shopper. In August the Federal Trade Commission told companies that they must disclose how personal data shapes the prices people see, while saying it lacks the power to ban the practice outright, the Associated Press reports. Illinois and Minnesota have pursued laws on it, The Shelby Report notes.

Furner also defends Walmart’s electronic shelf labels, which consumer advocates and some lawmakers fear could make personal pricing easier. The company says they keep shelf and till prices in step and save staff time. About 2,300 US stores had them in March, and Walmart expects them in every store within a year, AP reports.

“We price the product, not the person,” Furner writes.

AI shopping assistants learn a great deal about the people who use them. The largest US retailer has now said in writing what its assistant will not do with that knowledge, and rivals and the brands selling through such assistants can expect the same question.