A group of antitrust lawsuits blames the nationwide affordable housing crisis in part on a conspiracy among some of the country's top landlords to drive up rent using artificial intelligence tools.

The scheme allegedly works through property management software that crunches data provided by its customers—the landlords—to maximize rent. Another group of lawsuits also targeted the top hotel-casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, saying they operated a parallel cartel using similar software.

Two federal judges recently threw out the casino cases, rejecting the idea that relying on the same software is the type of collusion covered by antitrust law. The rulings cast doubt on the broader legal effort to rein in AI pricing algorithms.

On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, reporters Katie Arcieri and Justin Wise discuss the antitrust cases confronting the residential housing sector and a related push by the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission.

Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.