In economics, it would be hard to manipulate prices to further one's interest. If there's perfect competition in the market, such things will never happen. But there is no such thing as perfect competition in the real world. So chances are, there will be differences in prices for various products. That's why the government intervenes. Now, things are a bit different online. Pricing algorithms are becoming widely used in online retailing since it would make things a lot easier to set the price for your product and attract customers. However, when two pricing algorithms have been left on their own, they would naturally collude.
This sort of collusion would stem from a certain type of algorithm, the researchers say. Reinforcement algorithms learn through trial and error. In the simplest terms, a walking robot would take a step, fall, and try again. These algorithms have often been used to teach algorithms to win games like Go.
(Image credit: Markus Spiske/Unsplash)
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