US congressman Greg Casar has introduced a new bill to stop what he calls “AI-driven price gouging”. The bill, called the Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act of 2025, targets companies that use personal data to charge customers different prices for the same product, a growing trend known as surveillance pricing. Casar, a Democrat from Texas, says tech companies are going too far by spying on people’s habits and financial history. “Prices should be based on supply and demand and based on how much it costs to make and sell a thing, not based on spying on you and using your private data,” he told NBC News. The move follows a recent federal trade commission (FTC) report that found companies were using users’ browser history, GPS location and shopping behaviour to silently adjust prices. The practice is common in e-commerce, and often powered by artificial intelligence.The FTC study, released in January just before president Biden left office, revealed that big firms like Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, Accenture and McKinsey were among those feeding AI systems with consumer data. FTC chair Lina Khan called the system a “black box” where users don’t even realise they’re being charged more based on hidden profiling. Casar’s bill would also prohibit companies from using AI to determine wages based on personal financial data rather than job performance. Several US states are also cracking down. New York passed a law requiring businesses to inform customers when prices are set using algorithms. California may soon follow. But Casar’s bill is the first push for a national ban. The House is about to go into recess, so the bill won’t move before September. But Casar hopes both parties can get behind it. “You don’t have to be a progressive Democrat to say these gigantic corporations in the tech world should not be spying on us and then using what they learn to put it into AI and make our life more expensive,” he said.
