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California drivers sue gas stations for allegedly using AI to inflate prices (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 80 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Like do you really need an AI to do this? It's been going on for years where I live. It's not hard for all the local gas stations to collude to raise prices. It's easier than ever when you have the likes of gasbuddy crowd-sourcing all the price-checking.

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  • [–] 51 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    i like to point out that companies are using ai to be a boogeyman to distract you. take every article tou read and remove ai from the text or replace it with automation/algorithm.

    even the jobs. 5 years ago it was "company lays off 10000 employees" response was "fuck management" -- today they are doing the same thing but add "because ai" and everyone now says "fuck ai".

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  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago

    Yeah, most of the analysis I have seen has shown job losses due to AI have amounted to less than 1% of job losses in the US. Most of the losses are because of... just look at the White House. Easier to blame AI than actually admit politics is causing some serious issues.

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  • [+] 6 points 1 month ago (1 child)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 0 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    A tool is only as good or bad as the one using it. Ai is no different.

    If AI wasn't being swung around by a bunch of dipshits and being overly inflated and left to grow at a reasonable pace instead of trying to hyper scale it faster then it reasonably should.

    I doubt literally anyone would have a real issue with ai.

    You don't need massive data centers, you don't need to steal the world's knowledge, you don't need to replace every human possiable with it.

    But the ones wielding and pushing AI are doing that. And people blame the unthinking tool. Not the idiots using it.

    And this said as someone who fucking hates AI as it currently is

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  • [–] 19 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    I knew someone who worked for a gas station in a medium size college town. Part of her job was to jump in her car once a night and write down the prices that other local gas stations were charging, so the prices at her station could be adjusted. It didn't require AI, only a Honda Accord.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    just had to drive up to the top of the big hill with a pair of binoculars

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (1 child)

    Or a phone book. But still charge for the gas.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    That's illegal as well.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Sure, but now you can blame the AI. Sorry, not our fault.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    how does the logic work so it's not their fault? if they are price fixing they are price fixing, the mechanism doesn't matter.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Yep, if you tell an AI to do something, you are at least partially to blame for whatever it does. They shouldn't be able to avoid responsibility that easily.

    That's kind if what Germany told Google. "If you have AI write your search summaries, you are responsible for checking its work and liable for its mistakes.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (1 child)

    Yeah you're probably on the money there. AI gives you some sort of plausible deniability?

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Is it illegal if they don't collude?

    The but that makes using AI illegal is if they all use a common platform/service.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    It's legal if they don't do any communication between the companies. Then nobody can prove that there is collusion. Using AI, that all use the same way to raise the prices and vibe the prices higher as response to the other AI raising prices is even better. Then it's not even any human intent.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago

    Landlords used a common platform to price fix without communication between the companies and that was ruled illegal, it's not quite the same but because of the way public LLMs don't isolate inputs from users, you could argue that if any 2 users input their prices into the same platform they are engaging in collision as the information isn't public.

    https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-reaches-proposed-settlement-greystar-largest-us-landlord-end-its

    Really we should just ban all algorithmic price setting.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago

    Where I live, it is a law that a gas station has to be within 10 cents of all the other gas stations in the area. So prices move up or down in lockstep with the surrounding prices. They get like 2 days to comply.

    Is it useful? It does even prices out. And most gas stations do not make much profit off of the fuels they sell. Only a nickel a gallon at most around here. The gas just gets you to stop and walk into their convenience store. It's the soda pop, pizza, sandwiches, chips and other crap they sell that is the real profit makers.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    No, but...

    The lawsuit in the ‌Sacramento federal court said the scheme violated assembly bill 325, a California law that took effect on 1 January and was intended to crack down on algorithmic price fixing.

    You need a law to back it, and a proof point (in this case, a centralized AI company just like the rent collusion lawsuit).

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