Grift, Inc., a free public database at griftinc.com, documents how a subset of companies use artificial intelligence to extract more from their own customers and workers. Every case is tied to a matter of public record: a court filing, a regulator action, or sworn testimony. It is paired with a book of the same name, Grift, Inc. Volume 1: The Case Files.
The cases on the record
Each is framed as an allegation until a court resolves it, and each is linked to its source:
- /Amazon — algorithmic price testing. Active litigation (FTC v. Amazon).
- /UnitedHealthcare — ai claim denial. Active litigation (Estate of Lokken v. UnitedHealth).
- /Cigna — ai claim denial. Active litigation (Kisting-Leung v. Cigna).
- /RealPage — algorithmic price coordination. DOJ settled Nov 2025 (no financial penalty); state and private actions ongoing.
- /Live Nation / Ticketmaster — dynamic pricing. DOJ settled mid-trial (Mar 2026); state jury found Live Nation liable (Apr 2026), remedies incl. break-up pending.
- /Uber — wage suppression. Multi-jurisdictional litigation; UK Supreme Court ruled against Uber (2021).
- /Meta — engagement maximisation. Active 42-AG litigation (41 states + DC); UK Online Safety Act enforcement.
- /Kroger and Wendy's — surveillance pricing. Pre-litigation; Congressional inquiry; FTC 6(b) study.
The standard
What separates the database from commentary is its standard. Every claim is anchored to a primary source, confidence is flagged where evidence is partial, every company named is given its strongest defence before that defence is tested, and every company is offered a right of reply that is published in full. The full method is at griftinc.com/evidence-framework, and the database is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.
“AI did not invent corporate grift. It industrialised it. The database exists so that decisions like denying a medical claim in 1.2 seconds stay on the record, with the filings that prove them. It is a record, not a rant, and every company named can reply.”
Grift, Inc. Volume 1: The Case Files is available now. It is the first of a three-book series; Volume 2, The Field Manual, and Volume 3, How the Grift Ends, are in advance-reader release, with free copies at griftinc.com/free.
Notes to editors
About Grift, Inc.: a free public database documenting how companies use AI to extract from customers and workers, paired with a book series of the same name, released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.
On sourcing: every case traces to a court filing, a regulator report or order, or sworn testimony, with investigative journalism used only to corroborate. Claims in live proceedings are allegations until a court resolves them.
Media contact: hello@griftinc.com