Two Proposed Legislations, One Story: The Preventing Algorithmic Collusion Act and the Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act

These two bills have caught much attention among those who keep a close eye on the AI and competition issues. 

You can view them here.

Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act

Preventing Algorithmic Collusion Act

There is a lot to be said about these two bills.  A blog post won't do them justice.  I would make an interesting note here. That is, only the second bill defines what a pricing algorithm is.  The first does not provide any definition.  

The Preventing Algorithmic Collusion Act defines the term as follows

PRICING ALGORITHM.—The term “pricing algorithm” means any computational process, including a computational process derived from machine learning or other artificial intelligence techniques, that processes data to recommend or set a price or commercial term that is in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce.

Note how broad this definition is.  It is "any computational process," including, but arguably not limited to, ML or other AI techniques.  If I set my price to always undercut my competitor and do it in a spreadsheet, and even in my brain, this definition could be interpreted to suggest that I am using a pricing algorithm.