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The Federal Trade Commissionannouncedon Tuesday that it ’s ordinate eight companionship that offer AI - powered “ surveillance service pricing ” to turn over information about the possible impact these ware have on concealment , competition and consumer protection .

With this investigation , the agency is seeking to learn more about how artificial intelligence activity and other technologies are being used to change pricing base on consumer behavior , locating and other personal information . This practice allows company to charge different customers unlike prices , the FTC says .

The eight companies are Mastercard , Revionics , Bloomreach , JPMorgan Chase , Task Software , PROS , Accenture and McKinsey & Co. The FTC tell all of these company tender services that use AI to target prices for different customers .

The delegacy is seek selective information about the types of surveillance pricing services that each company has developed and may certify to third party , along with current uses of the services . It is also seek information about how the service are touch on consumer pricing .

“ house that harvest Americans ’ personal information can put people ’s privateness at risk . Now firms could be exploiting this huge trove of personal info to charge people eminent prices , ” pronounce FTC Chair Lina M. Khan in a printing press press release . “ American merit to bonk whether businesses are using detailed consumer data to deploy surveillance pricing , and the FTC ’s inquiry will shed lighter on this shadowy ecosystem of pricing middlemen . ”

While advertisers have long used location and past purchases to specify the types of advertising that users see online , the agency is concerned that these types of practices can now be used to implement surveillance pricing .