ZIMBABWE MARKS WORLD COMPETITION DAY 2025: HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS SHAPING CONSUMER WELFARE

1.    Introduction 
Today, Zimbabwe joins the global community in commemorating World Competition Day, observed annually on 5 December, to promote awareness of the importance of fair competition in modern economies. The day marks the adoption of the United Nations Set of Principles on Restrictive Business Practices, a cornerstone of global consumer protection and fair-market regulation. This year’s theme, “Artificial Intelligence, Consumers and Competition Policy” speaks directly to the rapid technological developments affecting markets worldwide, and Zimbabwe is no exception.

2.    What is Artificial Intelligence?(AI)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to computer systems and software designed to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. These tasks include learning from data, recognizing patterns, predicting outcomes, making decisions, and automating complex processes. In simple terms, AI allows machines and digital platforms to "think", "learn", and "act" in ways that mimic human reasoning - but often much faster and at scale. 

3.    AI: A Game Changer for Markets and Consumers
AI has moved rapidly from a specialized, high-tech innovation to a tool that shapes everyday economic life. Today, AI influences how prices are set in online and physical retail, consumers are targeted with products and services, companies analyze markets and predict demand, and how digital platforms tailor search results, advertisements, and recommendations. For Zimbabwe, where digital transformation is accelerating, AI brings significant opportunities such as faster service delivery, better product matching to consumer needs, improved logistics and distribution, reduced operational costs, and expanded access to digital markets, especially for small businesses. Notwithstanding these gains, there are also some new risks that must be carefully managed.

4.    The Potential Risks of AI
While AI ushers in clear benefits, it can also create new challenges if misused or left unregulated. If misused, AI systems can track and analyze consumer behavior in ways that allow firms to adjust prices unfairly or target consumers with manipulative offers. It can also entrench the power of already dominant companies, as firms with access to large data sets and advanced technologies may use AI to strengthen their market position and limit competition. Further, AI-driven algorithms can reduce consumer choice by favoring certain products or services, making it harder for smaller or emerging competitors to compete effectively. Without proper oversight, the same technology that enhances convenience and efficiency can be used to distort markets, restrict competition, and ultimately harm consumers.  These risks highlight the need for strong, modern and proactive competition enforcement - a responsibility that rests with the Competition and Tariff Commission.

5.    The Role of the Competition and Tariff Commission
The Competition and Tariff Commission (“Commission”) is Zimbabwe’s competition watchdog, established to administer the Competition Act [Chapter 14:28]. It is mandated to promote and maintain fair competition in all sectors of the economy of Zimbabwe ensuring that businesses, regardless of size, compete on equal terms, amongst others. The Act empowers the Commission to a)investigate and prevent restrictive practices, and b)regulate mergers & acquisitions.

5.1.    Redress of Restrictive Practices 
A key part of the Commission’s mandate is to detect and prohibit business practices that limit competition or harm consumers. Such restrictive practices include collusion between competitors, abuse of dominance, predatory pricing, discriminatory trading conditions, exclusive dealing arrangements, and any conduct that limits market entry or expansion. In the age of AI, these concerns take new forms such as: 

•    Algorithmic collusion: AI tools can “learn” to align prices with rivals without human input.
•    Self-preferencing algorithms: digital platforms rank own products or affiliates above competitors.
•    Data-driven exclusion: dominant firms use data to target customers or suppliers in ways that lock out smaller rivals.
•    Automated predatory pricing: algorithms adjust prices to drive new entrants out of the market.

These practices can harm consumers by increasing prices, reducing choices, and stifling innovation. By enforcing the Act, the Commission ensures that Zimbabwean consumers benefit from fair prices, product diversity, and competitive markets.

5.2.    Regulating Mergers
The Commission is also mandated to assess and control mergers and acquisitions to prevent them from reducing competition in the Zimbabwean economy. It determines whether a merger will substantially prevent or lessen competition or create a monopoly situation contrary to public interest, by conducting a thorough market analysis and considering several key factors outlined in the Competition Act [Chapter 14:28]. In this digital era, mergers are increasingly driven by the desire to acquire data, digital platforms, AI technologies, and control over online ecosystems. AI amplifies mergers effects. When a dominant firm acquires a competitor’s valuable data sets or algorithms, it may gain an unbeatable advantage in predicting consumer behavior, the power to shape prices across an entire sector, the ability to foreclose markets to new entrants. Merger regulation, therefore, ensures that technological progress does not lead to digital monopolies harmful to Zimbabwean consumers or local innovators by preserving a diverse and competitive market structure.

6.    Ensuring AI Works for Zimbabweans
AI presents immense opportunities for national development; from smarter agriculture and more efficient supply chains to better financial services and e-government systems. However, the benefits of AI can only be fully realized if markets remain open, fair, inclusive, and competitive. World Competition Day 2025 is therefore a reminder that innovation must be guided by strong regulatory frameworks that protect consumers and promote economic efficiency. In this regard, the Commission remains committed to:
i)    ensuring AI enhances, rather than undermines, consumer welfare,
ii)    preventing creation of monopolies and abuse of market power,
iii)    supporting innovation through fair competition, and
iv)    maintaining markets where all businesses, large and small, can compete effectively.

7.    Conclusion 
As Zimbabwe’s digital economy expands, one principle stands out clearly: Innovation must serve the public, not dominate it. While AI presents vast opportunities for improved efficiency, innovation, and wider market access, these benefits can only be realized when supported by fair, transparent, and competitive markets. Without proper oversight, AI-driven tools may be used to unfairly influence prices, limit consumer choice, or entrench dominance in ways that undermine both economic efficiency and consumer welfare. As Zimbabwe embraces AI and other modern technologies, maintaining strong competition principles remains essential to building a digital economy that is inclusive, innovative, and beneficial to all Zimbabweans. The Competition and Tariff Commission therefore plays a critical role in ensuring that technological progress serves the public interest rather than restricting it.