A shopper browses the meat section of a grocery store on July 7, 2026, in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/
SEATTLE —Seattle leaders approved new rules to stop grocery stores from using artificial intelligence and personal data to set prices, aiming to make grocery shopping fair and transparent for everyone.
Mayor Katie Wilson and City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck announced the Fair and Transparent Pricing policy on Monday, with councilmembers Dionne Foster and Rob Saka co-sponsoring the measure.
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The new rules are about ensuring that everyone gets honest prices at the store. “Food is an essential good that’s getting more expensive all the time,” Wilson said. “People have been clear: they don’t want their data fed into algorithms that decide how much they pay at the grocery store. Everyone deserves transparent pricing and equal treatment, not hidden systems that charge some shoppers more than others.”
Fresh fish are seen at a grocery store Monday, May 11, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. /George Walker IV)
Rinck highlighted concerns about big grocery corporations using personal information to boost profits. “Groceries are getting more expensive for everyday Seattleites, while the buying, selling and leveraging our private information to manipulate prices is making big national grocery corporations millions in profits,” Rinck said.
She said the law is “intended to put some guardrails on what big businesses can do with our personal information. At a time when SNAP reductions have rocked our community, and people have less to spend on food, this is an important step we can take to prevent AI-assisted price gouging and ensure fair discounts for everyone.”
The new policy bans large grocery retailers—both online and in physical stores—from using details like employment status, race, gender, browsing history, social media activity or chatbot conversations to determine how much to charge individual shoppers. Stores must post prices clearly and make them available to all.
Traditional coupons and open discounts for seniors or veterans are still allowed.
Union leaders said the changes were the result of months of collaboration between city officials, industry groups, labor partners and community advocates. “Today’s vote demonstrates the immense power of working people standing together with the communities we serve,” said UFCW 3000 Secretary-Treasurer Sean Embly. He added, “When we work together, we can protect our neighborhood stores from predatory practices that put profits over people. We hope the passage of this legislation helps us all return to the work of feeding our communities instead of feeding Wall Street’s greed.”
Seattle’s measure takes aim at the growing use of algorithms and artificial intelligence to change what people pay based on their personal information.
Investigations in other places and recent news about Seattle shoppers found these systems can lead to big differences in price for the same groceries.
With this new policy, Seattle joins other efforts around the country to protect shoppers from unfair and secret pricing systems.
States like New Jersey have their own rules, but city leaders say Seattle is now at the leading edge in making sure people know what their groceries cost and why.
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