Walmart Denies Plans for Surveillance Pricing Despite AI and Personalization Patents

Walmart has pushed back against allegations from economic policy organization Groundwork Collaborative that the retailer is developing surveillance pricing mechanisms to tailor product costs to individual shoppers based on personal data. The dispute, reported by Mashable Tech (https://mashable.com/tech/walmart-says-it-wont-personalize-prices-despite-patents), follows the release of an Oct. 5 report titled "The Walmart Watchtower," which examines patent applications detailing data collection ranging from credit reports to music playlist activity.

Authored by Groundwork President and CEO Lindsay Owens alongside Vice President of Policy, Advocacy, and Research Elizabeth Pancotti, the report argues that Walmart's privacy disclosures and patent filings outline the infrastructure to price consumers rather than products. Groundwork cited hypothetical mechanisms in the filings, such as charging higher prices on baby items to new parents or increasing the price of complementary goods, such as raising the cost of mayonnaise if a shopper has already added tuna to their cart.

The report also scrutinized Walmart's proprietary artificial intelligence shopping assistant, Sparky, asserting that shoppers who interact with the tool spend more than non-users and that corporate executives have highlighted these metrics.

Walmart Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs Dan Bartlett responded on Oct. 5 in an open letter addressed to Owens, published on X and Walmart's corporate website. Bartlett disputed the report's conclusions, stating that Groundwork mischaracterized the company's pricing practices and technological deployment. Bartlett affirmed that Walmart will not pursue dynamic pricing and has committed not to do so, adding that the company does not use artificial intelligence to impose surcharges on customers.

Owens issued a counter-statement on Oct. 5 defending Groundwork's findings, arguing that Walmart presents conflicting messages to shoppers, investors, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Owens released additional patent analysis for public review and raised concerns regarding Sparky's operational safeguards, referencing recent security incidents involving AI models on platforms such as Hugging Face.

The clash occurs amid heightened regulatory interest in surveillance pricing, where consumer profiles and behaviors dictate differing prices for identical goods. Groundwork previously contributed to a December 2025 investigation with Consumer Reports regarding Instacart's grocery price testing, which the delivery company discontinued following public and political pushback.