“Price paranoia”: how AI tweaks price tags for a specific buyer

Consumer anxiety, which has been dubbed “AI-induced price paranoia” in the West, is no longer a conspiracy theory. In late September, the CEO of the American company, which operates the world’s largest chain of stores, John Ferner published an open letter in which he vowed that the network sets the price for a particular product, not for a person. Just a week later, 38-year-old Nick Nado from Illinois posted screenshots: the same hard drive in the store app cost $369 on his smartphone, and on his wife's smartphone - $110 cheaper. “They are using cookies or collected data against me,” said Naduda, who has experienced an “invasion of privacy.”.

In Russia, the degree of the topic was set by the October discussion of users of one of the social networks about cakes from the popular fast delivery service. Users with a difference of a few minutes published screenshots, where the cost of one box of dessert jumped from 124 to 259 rubles. Company officials in both countries simultaneously reported technical errors, but consumers no longer believe in accidental failures. Sellers have too much data on consumer habits, and their algorithms have too much power to change the price tag in real time.

Dynamic pricing in itself is not an invention of neural networks. Airlines, hotels and taxi aggregators have been driving up prices during peak hours for years, balancing supply and demand. However, the new iteration of this mechanism is frightening in its selectivity. If before the price depended on the time of day, weather or demand, now it begins to depend on the identity of the buyer. In August 2026, one of the largest Russian technology holdings officially confirmed the testing of a tool that analyzes impersonal customer behavior to form personal offers. In practice, this means that the algorithm can not only give you a discount to "squander" - to train you to the site, as bankers say - but also quietly raise the base value when it realizes that you have already formed a habit of a given product or service and are not ready to go to a competitor.

According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, personalized prices generate an additional 2-5% of revenue for businesses. After one airline said AI would set fares on 20 percent of tickets, Congressman Greg Kasar introduced a bill to ban “surveillance-based pricing.”.

The platform economy law, in force in Russia since July 2025, prohibits discriminatory conditions for users of one category. But this is not a ban on flexible prices: the platform justifies segmentation.

Anastasia Kudryavtseva, an expert in business psychology, clarifies: “The mere use of artificial intelligence to generate individual prices is not illegal.” Loyalty discounts are legal if the rules are transparent. The problem is when a company intentionally raises its base price based on its purchase history. “It is important that the price changes depending on the individual characteristics of the consumer, and not the objective conditions of sale,” concludes Kudryavtseva. According to Article 426 of the Civil Code, the retail sale contract is public, “its price must be the same for consumers of the corresponding category.”.

Consumer data is a separate story. According to Article 16 of the Law on Personal Data, a decision taken exclusively by automated processing and affecting human rights requires written consent: the operator explains the procedure for its adoption and examines the objections within 30 days. But not every price change falls under this rule. The Consumer Protection Act guarantees reliable information about the price. If, under equal conditions, one account was charged a higher price just because the algorithm found it less sensitive to money, regulatory authorities have grounds for verification. “The company still bears responsibility for the decisions made with its help,” recalls Kudryavtseva.

B&C Agency partner Artem Romanyuk believes that discrimination is the case when “the cost of one product varies depending on the history of purchases and the estimated solvency of the client.” But for a legal assessment, it is necessary to establish the reason for the difference: a personal discount, the terms of the loyalty program or a hidden increase in the base price.”.

Member of the Council of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation for Financial Market and Investments Anna Vovk answers in the affirmative to the question whether such a difference in prices is considered discrimination: “In human terms, yes.” However, in the Russian legal field, such a concept does not currently exist.”.

World experience shows that business is trying to stay ahead. In the UK, after a scandal with tickets, the price of which because of the hype rose from 148 to 350 pounds, the regulator ordered sellers to warn about dynamic prices in advance. In the US, New York state has already passed a law on the mandatory disclaimer “this price is set by the algorithm”, although it is challenged in the courts.

But while lawmakers argue, algorithms continue to calculate our maximum ability to pay. Therefore, in digital trading, it is still important for the buyer to compare the total cost of different sellers: the mark “specially for you” in itself does not mean a better offer.