Walmart CEO John Furner promised in a customer letter that the retailer won’t charge anyone more based on their income, past purchases or how badly they need an item. Sparky, Walmart’s AI shopping assistant, is held to the same rule, so it won’t raise prices off what shoppers tell it or steer them away from cheaper products that would work. The letter follows skepticism from some shoppers, advocates and lawmakers about the digital shelf labels Walmart can reprice centrally and expects to have in every US store within a year. Furner said the labels are there to make the shelf price match the register. The pledge comes weeks after the FTC proposed a policy statement warning that retailers who hide how they use personal data to price goods could be violating the FTC Act.
