this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2024
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I don't think they're doing dynamic pricing on an individual basis, that would be too obvious. But checking the demographics of each location or individuals' shopping habits, and potentially adjusting the prices or offerings? Definitely.
So, if you show it 100 faces from group A and 4 faces from group B, that could start gradually shifting the prices in a specific direction. If you keep going, you might be able to make it do something funny like charging 0.1 € for a Pepsi and 1000 € for a Coke or something like that. If the devs saw that coming, they might have set some limits so that the price can's spiral totally out of control.
I am sure the profit margin is taken into account, so you won't get an ultracheap Pepsi unless it expires soon. Similarly, I expect it to consider economic viability, so it won't keep raising prices unless people are willing to pay them. Of course, you never know what the model actually does or what goals it follows (maximizing profit is a good guess, though), or how bad the coding is. The program might be very versatile and robust, or it may break when you show it a QR code - how can I know? Probably something in between.