ALBANY — A tidal wave of public angst over artificial intelligence and fears that it is being used to manipulate consumers has led public policymakers in New York and other states to focus on the use of so-called electronic shelf labels in grocery store aisles.
Essentially a digital price tag, electronic shelf labels have slowly been making their way into the racks of national retailers like Walmart, which has been rolling out the wireless devices to its stores across the U.S.
And while the companies say the electronic shelf labels are innocuous, elected officials, labor unions and consumer groups in New York and other states have proposed banning the devices. They alleged that they will be used to deploy so-called surveillance pricing against their customers. Surveillance pricing relies on artificial intelligence and data on the specific buying habits of shoppers to determine how much shoppers pay for products…