{"id":552754,"date":"2026-07-31T09:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T09:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/552754\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T09:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T09:12:12","slug":"how-ai-could-accidentally-engage-businesses-in-cartels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/552754\/","title":{"rendered":"How AI could accidentally engage businesses in cartels"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Robo cartels sound like something out of a futuristic AI movie.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact they are real, they threaten to drive up prices for consumers and they could land businesses in court facing fines of $10 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also called algorithmic collusion or AI cartels, they are a new way in which anti-competitive conduct such as price fixing, information sharing, resale price maintenance and coordinated conduct can happen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They are becoming an increasing risk as more businesses embed AI in their daily decision making.<\/p>\n<p>WATCH: Bell Gully\u2019s Glenn Shewan explains how AI can unintentionally create competition law risks for businesses<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The warning comes in a new report in its Big Picture series, where law firm Bell Gully explores the competition law risks associated with the use of artificial intelligence tools.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bellgully.com\/insights\/the-big-picture-algorithmic-collusion-and-ai-cartels-risks-under-new-zealands-commerce-act\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Algorithmic Collusion and AI cartels: risks under New Zealand\u2019s Commerce Act<\/a>, explains how cartel activity can arise through these tools.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It includes using a pricing algorithm as part of an explicit agreement with competitors to set prices, agreeing with competitors to use the same software to align prices, and sharing confidential competitor information.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI is transforming the way businesses make decisions, Bell Gully\u2019s Glenn Shewan says, but the AI tools they use could also lead to competition law breaches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report looks at the evolving regulatory landscape in New Zealand and overseas, and outlines practical steps businesses can take to mitigate the new risks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shewan said the Commerce Commission was keeping a close watch on AI developments and he warned that businesses wouldn\u2019t be able to blame the algorithms for mistakes or breaches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNew Zealand\u2019s competition rules apply whether decisions are made by people or algorithms. Businesses remain responsible for the competitive outcomes produced by their AI tools,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the Bell Gully Big Picture report, the Commerce Commission\u2019s AI paper suggests that liability could extend to designers or manufacturers of the tool.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That means that businesses may have to extend AI training to staff who usually work in the background, like the software engineers, Shewan said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Already cases have emerged internationally relating to the use of AI algorithmic pricing tools.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shewan cited a case in the US where landlords were caught out for using AI-enabled cartel conduct.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A White House report found that as many as one in four rentals across the country may have been influenced by algorithmic rental pricing software.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The pooled confidential data and software design were said to \u201creduce genuinely independent decision making across the industry,\u201d the White House report found.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cInternational regulators are already taking action on AI-enabled cartel conduct and algorithmic pricing practices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGiven those global enforcement trends, New Zealand businesses should expect increasing scrutiny in this area,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robo cartels sound like something out of a futuristic AI movie. In fact they are real, they threaten&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[365,363,364,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-552754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}