New Jersey Bill Targets AI-Driven Surveillance Pricing Discrimination

The New Jersey Senate’s bipartisan Commerce Committee advanced a bill that would stop companies from charging customers different amounts for identical products. The practice — called “surveillance pricing” — relies on AI systems that adjust what you pay after analyzing your personal information.

“If the store knows that you just searched for a certain product online, it might charge you a higher price,” said Gov. Mikie Sherrill, according to News12 New Jersey. “That’s outrageous.”

Walk into a grocery store and everyone pays the same. But online? Companies can deploy AI to jack up costs after tracking what you browse, where you live, or how much you earn. Travel sites run similar algorithms. Search for flights three times? You might see higher fares than someone checking once.

Paul Oster leads Better Qualified, a Monmouth County operation. He backs the proposed law. “No one who looks at this could possibly argue for not passing this bill,” said Oster.

Oster’s team ran tests on airfare. “We played this out and did a little investigative research ourselves,” Oster said. “If a friend of yours — for the first time — searched those same flights and destinations, they would get a different price.”

The House Oversight Committee has demanded answers from Uber, Expedia, and other travel platforms about their AI pricing methods. New York now requires businesses to disclose when algorithms using personal data determine what customers pay. State lawmakers there want to ban it outright.

Oster points to data harvesting as the root problem. “Your income, do you own your house, do you rent your house, how many cars do you have?” Oster said. “Stop filling out all those crazy surveys that ask all those questions.”

Shopping at local stores offers protection. Prices stay fixed when you’re standing in the aisle instead of clicking through screens.

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