5 ways the FTC can stop AI-fueled surveillance pricing
(Getty/Roberto Schmidt/AFP)
As artificial intelligence makes it cheaper and easier for businesses to analyze vast amounts of consumer data and tailor prices at an increasingly individual level, policymakers should establish guardrails as surveillance pricing becomes widespread. Not every use of algorithms to set prices raises the same concerns, but there is an important difference between adjusting prices in response to market conditions and using detailed, potentially sensitive information about an individual consumer to determine how much more that person can be made to pay.
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) proposed policy statement is a step toward establishing that distinction but it is insufficient. Disclosure alone cannot carry the full weight of consumer protection. These are five ways the FTC can protect Americans from surveillance pricing:
Pair disclosure requirements with substantive protections against harmful surveillance pricing.
Distinguish between legitimate dynamic pricing and surveillance pricing.
Establish guardrails around the data that can be used to set prices.
Clarify where surveillance pricing is and is not reasonably expected.
The national debt can feel far-removed from the everyday routines of going to work, saving up to buy a home, or caring for a family. But rising federal debt quietly raises the cost of the mortgage on that home, pushes up the interest on the credit card that covers a bad month, and lowers the chances that the business where someone works can afford to grow and hire.
What does that mean for your wallet?
CAP estimates that the accumulation of federal debt over the past 25 years has added roughly 1.36 percentage points to current borrowing rates. For a household with a mortgage, new auto loan, and undergraduate student loan, that translates to an estimated $4,500 more in annual payments.
These higher costs do not just show up as line items—they translate into real financial strain for households already stretched thin. When mortgage, auto, and student loan payments run higher than they otherwise would, some households fall behind on their payments altogether.
Who is paying for this?
Younger Americans will disproportionately bear the cost going forward since they are taking out new loans while older generations sit on locked-in, lower-rate mortgages and paid-off debts. Looking at this borrowing, loans taken out by people between the ages of 18 and 49 alone made up 67 percent of the value of new mortgage originations and 61 percent of new auto loans.
For MSNOW, CAP senior fellow Jonathan Fritz recaps last week’s Trump-Xi summit and argues that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit did not do much to advance U.S. interests on issues that matter to Americans. Fritz writes:
“What Xi’s visit has revealed is that the Trump administration seemingly prioritizes pomp and circumstance over substantive success.”
