California drivers sued several major gas stations Monday accusing them of using artificial intelligence to increase gas prices.
BP, Walmart, 7-Eleven, Marathon Petroleum, Circle K, and several other gas stations face a class-action lawsuit from drivers in the Golden State after allegedly using an AI tool to inflate fuel costs. The artificial intelligence uses data from competing gas stations to “coordinate high prices and wring more money from the pockets of consumers,” according to the suit.
The lawsuit, filed in a Sacrament0-based federal court, said that use of Kalibrate Fuel Pricing violated Assembly Bill 325, a California law that was meant to crack down on the algorithmic price fixing.
BP declined to comment to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Walmart, 7-Eleven, Marathon Petroleum and Circle K did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
“While families struggle to afford the commute to work, Defendants have conspired to put an end to competition, joining an AI-powered trust to ensure that no matter where a driver turns, the price for gasoline is artificially high,” the suit states.
California pays the highest gas prices in the United States with $5.56 per gallon, but the national average is $3.93, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA) as of Tuesday.
The lawsuit is seeking “for permanent injective relief to Plaintiffs and the Class,” and “for all other such relief as the Court deems just and proper.”
“Part of the cause of California’s astronomical fuel prices is an illegal algorithm price-fixing scheme orchestrated by the algorithmic pricing company Kalibrate and some of the state’s largest fuel retailers,” it adds.
California’s drivers have suffered financial damages through the algorithmic pricing for those who rely on their vehicles for basic necessities according to the lawsuit.
Each year California drivers consume 13.4 billion gallons of gasoline and as of June, Californians are paying approximately $1.68 above the national average, according to the suit. Because of the volume of fuel sold in the state of California a single cent increase is projected to cost a total of $134 million from California drivers’ wallets.
In March the California Energy Commission Division of Petroleum Market Oversight said that it was monitoring gas prices as high as $7 a gallon. California has historically had higher gas prices than the rest of the United States due to taxes and an isolated fuel market, according to the California Energy Commission.
“Plaintiffs and members of the Class have been forced to pay an illegal surcharge at the pump as a result of the Defendant’s conduct causing them significant economic injury,” the suit states.
The use of Kalibrate Fuel Pricing is under an ongoing government investigation since 2024, according to the suit. Canada’s Department of Justice initiated the investigation to look into Kalibrate’s conduct of how they fix prices, according to the lawsuit.
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Republished with permission from Daily Caller News Foundation
