In 2025, the top political issue on New Yorkers’ minds was inflation. Poll after poll showed it ranking above crime, housing, and immigration.
From groceries to rent to transportation, inflation dominated our political conversation because it dominated our lives. And without legislative action in the City Council or Albany, that pressure isn’t going away any time soon.
We can debate inflationary government policies and broader economic forces all day. But one driver of rising prices still doesn’t get nearly enough attention.
That is corporate America’s growing use of AI-driven algorithms to raise prices in real time.
It’s one thing when these so-called “dynamic pricing” tools are used by honest actors for the public’s benefit, such as when the housing industry uses it to manage the affordable housing supply. But it’s something else entirely when corporate interests use AI algorithms to push prices higher simply because consumers have no alternative.
That concern recently came into focus when Mayor Mamdani called on FIFA to not use dynamic pricing for the upcoming World Cup matches in the New Jersey and New York metro area.
“For the first time, FIFA is using dynamic pricing, where they’re going to figure out in real time how much they can get away with for charging a ticket,” he said in a video posted on X. “What this all means is the biggest sporting event in the world is happening in your backyard, and you’ll be priced out of it.”
At a subsequent press conference for his Game Over Greed campaign, Mamdani went further, arguing that FIFA has treated the World Cup less as an important cultural event and more as a profit-maximization exercise.
That critique resonates because ticketing is where many New Yorkers first encountered dynamic pricing in its most aggressive form. Companies like Ticketmaster, which Mamdani called out directly when signing his executive order against hidden taxes and junk fees on Jan. 5, have made price volatility the norm, turning moments of excitement into exercises in sticker shock.
However, dynamic pricing has quietly crept into far more areas of our daily lives than ticketing.
Restaurants and food services, for example, increasingly adjust prices based on time of day, demand spikes, and neighborhood traffic patterns. The result is that the same meal can cost significantly more depending on when a working family is able to eat.
The grocery chain Kroger has begun employing Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) in dozens of stores. These digital price tags enable stores to change prices on shelves 100 times a day.
For a decade, restaurants have been experimenting with dynamic pricing as well. The New York Times reported that they are using apps that offer different prices to consumers based on reservation times.
When companies raise prices because rising food and ingredient costs are hurting their bottom lines, they deserve our sympathy. When they hike costs merely because an AI algorithm tells them they can get away with doing so, they deserve regulatory action
City leaders have begun to respond. The New York City Council and state Legislature are now considering legislation to curb dynamic pricing in the food industry.
That’s a welcome start. But food pricing is only one piece of a much larger puzzle.
Dynamic pricing is now used across retail, travel, entertainment, and essential services — and we must stop it.
Used responsibly, AI can improve efficiency, reduce waste, and expand access. But used irresponsibly, it becomes a powerful tool for exploitation. And the truth is that corporate America is using AI to raise prices in ways that were never possible before.
That is why New York must continue to lead on this issue.
Corporate America has already begun pushing back, often by pointing fingers elsewhere. Ticketmaster’s parent company, for example, has tried to blame ticket resale markets for high prices. But resale markets are transparent. Consumers know what they’re paying and can shop for deals, often below face value.
Dynamic pricing offers no such clarity. Prices change instantly, without explanation, and almost always in one direction.
New Yorkers shouldn’t be fooled by corporate attempts like this to shift blame away from the real problem.
2025 was the year New Yorkers demanded relief from inflation. Let’s make 2026 the year it actually happens.
Addressing dynamic pricing would represent a great start.
Carlucci served as a member of the New York State Senate from 2011 to 2020
