That price you’re seeing online may have been picked specifically for you

Consumers are seriously worried about online pricing, and not just because prices seem to be rising all around. It’s because, according to recent reports and an investigative new book, algorithms are now setting prices. And they aren’t doing it based on product quality or market value, but on individuals. The practice of charging different customers different prices might be tough to wrap your head around. But author Lindsay Owens, president and CEO of the Washington think tank Groundwork Collaborative, offers a behind-the-scenes look at how price-setting happens, and how rampant it is, in Gouged: The End of a Fair Price — And What That Means For Your Wallet. The newly released exposé reveals a worrisome shifting dynamic where surveillance-based price discrimination, AI shopping assistants, and algorithms lead to consumers paying higher prices on everything from airline tickets to groceries. It happens with the help of corporations digging deep into your data to understand your shopping habits all too well. Earlier this year, a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism held a hearing to explore how companies were able to use AI and data collection to manipulate p…