It does not even have to be AI. If there is an area where the bulk of humans contact a single agency to decide their prices for them and that agency then tells every caller the same price (adjusted for quality differences), then you will get this style of collusion.
The agency can merely claim it is doing research on competitors to set prices, which is almost true since it looks at the prices it has told others to charge before giving you a figure.
Which is exactly what is happening with rental housing, the vast bulk of which use a shared revenue management system saas.
Also what is happening with wages. Companies relying sharing their wage data with each other through in organizations like Options Impact, and effectively colluding to match each others’ comp.
> Companies relying sharing their wage data with each other
If the collusion was only accidental, then an enterprising company could _just_ increase their price a tiny bit, and attract better people than their competitors.
The agency can merely claim it is doing research on competitors to set prices, which is almost true since it looks at the prices it has told others to charge before giving you a figure.
Which is exactly what is happening with rental housing, the vast bulk of which use a shared revenue management system saas.