Colorado Gov. Jared Polis speaks during a news conference on May 6, 2024, at the Colorado Capitol. (Quentin Young/Colorado Newsline)
On Aug. 1, Cornerstone Apartment Services — the largest property management company in central Denver, with over 290 properties across the Front Range — sent out a notice that they will begin billing tenants for utilities using a variable system managed by third-party companies Zego or RealPage.
The change, effective Oct. 1, replaces flat-rate utility billing with a monthly, usage-based system determined by proprietary algorithms. While seemingly innocuous, Cornerstone’s adoption of third-party utility billing reflects a broader and more dangerous trend: the normalization of AI-driven pricing systems that use opaque algorithms to manipulate costs and extract more from tenants, supported by a governor working to advance AI technology…