Consumer frustration spans higher prices and perceived artificial intelligence pricing

Restaurant chains and major retailers use pricing methods shoppers call new

The Associated Press reported on October 26, 2026, that Americans have become frustrated with higher prices and with what they perceive to be new methods used by restaurant chains and major retailers in setting prices, including the use of artificial intelligence tools. The report described two subjects of that frustration: the level of prices, and the methods used to arrive at them.

One qualifier in the AP’s account is perception. Americans were said to be frustrated with methods they perceive as new, and the report named restaurant chains and major retailers as the sectors using those methods, with the use of artificial intelligence tools among them.

The same report also covered a federal case involving retail pricing. The Federal Trade Commission sued the bargain chain Dollar General, alleging that the chain charged customers more once customers reached the register than the prices displayed on shelves and in advertisements. The agency characterized the practices as “long-running deceptive pricing practices.”

Twenty states joined the complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. The FTC said Dollar General failed to correct the issue despite what it said was “extensive corporate knowledge of the problem.”

“Dollar General has betrayed the trust of millions of American consumers and imposed significant financial harm on communities and consumers who are already struggling to make their paychecks last,” wrote Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

The states joining the FTC lawsuit include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin, according to the FTC.

Dollar General is based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville. The Associated Press reported that the company did not immediately return a request for comment.

The case is at the complaint stage, and the FTC’s allegations had not been answered by Dollar General in The Associated Press’s report. The core factual questions are whether the chain charged more at the register than it displayed and advertised, and whether it corrected those discrepancies despite its knowledge of the problem.

The Associated Press published both accounts together, and they cover different ground. The complaint alleges one pricing practice — a gap between the price a shopper is shown and the amount charged at the register — and says the company failed to correct it despite what the FTC called “extensive corporate knowledge of the problem.” The wider frustration described in the same report is broader: price levels, and pricing methods at restaurant chains and major retailers, including artificial intelligence tools, that consumers perceive as new.