Lawsuit Accuses Gas Stations of Using AI to Jack Up Fuel Prices in California
According to the suit, gas stations across the state used AI-enabled software that inflated the price of fuel.
3 min read
Californians who've felt the pinch of average gas prices as high as $6 to $7 a gallon in recent months may have some eventual recourse if a proposed class action lawsuit goes through.
The lawsuit, filed on June 22 in the Eastern District of California, accuses several major gas station operators of manipulating pump prices by using AI-driven pricing software from Kalibrate Fuel Systems, a tool that allegedly uses competitor data to influence fuel costs. The complaint targets more than 1,700 gas stations across the state, including BP, Walmart, Marathon Petroleum, 7-Eleven, Albertsons and Circle K.
Plaintiffs argue that, where the automated software is widely used, prices rose by about 30 cents per gallon above what normal competition would have produced. The lawsuit calls it "an illegal algorithmic...
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