{"id":17598,"date":"2025-02-19T03:26:47","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T03:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/19\/canadas-competition-bureau-investigating-if-ai-is-helping-set-rental-rates\/"},"modified":"2025-02-19T03:26:47","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T03:26:47","slug":"canadas-competition-bureau-investigating-if-ai-is-helping-set-rental-rates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/19\/canadas-competition-bureau-investigating-if-ai-is-helping-set-rental-rates\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s Competition Bureau investigating if AI is helping set rental rates"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Canada\u2019s Competition Bureau is investigating the potential role artificial intelligence<\/a> (AI) is playing in tracking and setting rental rates across the country.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs soon as the renters in the country started, you know, doing some rent strikes, really pushing back, I started speaking to renters all across the country,\u201d Bonita Zarrillo, MP for Port Moody-Coquitlam told Global News.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we heard about these algorithms softwares, YieldStar, and other softwares and they said that these softwares were capturing data about them and artificially allowing them to drive up rents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last August, the U.S. Justice Department filed a suit against real estate company RealPage Inc., which owns YieldStar, accusing it of an illegal scheme that allows landlords to coordinate to hike rental prices.<\/p>\n

The suit alleged the company was violating antitrust laws through its algorithm that landlords use to get recommended rental prices for millions of apartments across the country.<\/p>\n

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Zarrillo said those same companies are operating in Canada.<\/p>\n

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She made a motion to have parliament look into this issue last fall but it did not pass the first reading<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The Competition Bureau said in a statement that details of the investigation must remain private. \u201cThe Bureau must conduct a thorough and complete examination of the facts regarding any issue before reaching any conclusion as to whether the Competition Act has been contravened,\u201d the organization said.<\/p>\n