A recent study found Instacart was charging some shoppers up to 23% more for the same items from the same stores in an AI experiment, and now the Federal Trade Commission is reportedly looking into the matter.

Last week, Consumer Reports and a team of other advocacy groups published an investigation into an AI-based “dynamic pricing” tool being used by the shopping platform Instacart. That AI pricing tool was charging some customers as much as 23% more for the exact same items from the exact same store, purchased at the exact same time. Critics charged that the whole purpose of the AI-based dynamic pricing was to “figure out the maximum amount you are willing to pay and squeeze it out of you.”

Now federal regulators have noticed. Reuters just reported this week that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may be opening a probe into Instagram’s AI price manipulation, as the platform was found to be charging different shoppers anywhere between $3.99 and $4.79 for the same carton of eggs from the same store when purchased on Instacart.

The probe itself is not an accusation of wrongdoing. In this case, it's merely a “civil investigative demand” seeking more information about the AI pricing tool and how it works. And Instacart is denying that it is facing any further FTC investigations as it just settled a different one this week. In a company blog post stressing Instacart's "unwavering commitment to transparency" and "relentless focus on affordability," the company says that as of this week "we are not aware of any other pending FTC investigations."

"The Federal Trade Commission has a longstanding policy of not commenting on any potential or ongoing investigations,” the FTC said in a statement to Reuters. “But, like so many Americans, we are disturbed by what we have read in the press about Instacart’s alleged pricing practices.”

For their part, Instacart told the New York Times that these different prices were all just “pricing test” experiments. They said the surprising price differentials were “short term, randomized, and designed so that people may see slightly lower prices and some may see slightly higher prices, with the goal of helping retail partners understand consumer preferences and identify categories where they should invest in lower prices.”

Though this potential probe obviously comes when affordability is suddenly the biggest issue on American voters’ minds, and it does not look good that Instacart is alleged to be playing invisible, back-end tricks with the prices consumers are being made to pay. Though this is the Donald Trump FTC, and the Trump administration thus far has been incredibly lenient and permissive with the AI sector, while the sector in turn has been very generous to Trump's ballroom-building and sham crypto company pursuits.

But the dam may be breaking on consumer sentiment turning hard against this administration, and maybe they’d like to make an example of someone in the astonishingly well-funded AI sector.

Instacart, meanwhile, as mentioned above, just agreed to a $60 million settlement to settle another FTC complaint, which related to the company's deceptive practices around its Instacart+ subscription service, and hidden delivery fees on purported "free delivery" orders.

And news of the probe into Instacart's pricing practices has sent the company's stock price plummeting.

Related: Report: SF-Based Instacart Charging Some Customers as Much as 23% More for the Same Items, Thanks to AI Pricing [SFist]

*This post has been corrected to show that the FTC is not actively investigating the AI pricing issue as of now, but has only made inquiries about it.

Image: SAN ANSELMO, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 28: In this photo illustration, the Instacart logo is displayed on a computer monitor on August 28, 2023 in San Anselmo, California. Grocery delivery company Instacart filed for its initial public offering on Friday with hopes to start trading on the Nasdaq by next month. (Photo Illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)