Instacart said Monday it will cease the use of artificial intelligence-driven pricing tests on its grocery delivery platform after the practice was scrutinized in a wide-ranging study and rebuked by lawmakers.
The company said in a blog post that retailers will no longer be able to use its Eversight technology to run pricing experiments on its platform, 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," the company wrote. "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."
Instacart acquired Eversight for $59 million in 2022. Eversight's software allows retailers to carry out pricing tests to gauge shoppers' reactions to higher or lower prices on certain items.
Instacart said at the time that the technology would help retailers improve sales and growth, while "also surfacing the best deals for customers."