A tech entrepreneur who claimed to have developed a revolutionary AI-powered shopping app is now facing federal charges after authorities revealed the “artificial intelligence” behind the app was actually a team of human workers in Southeast Asia.
Albert Saniger, the 35-year-old founder and former CEO of the shopping app “nate,” has been charged with securities fraud and wire fraud by U.S. prosecutors. His company had raised over $40 million from investors who believed they were funding a cutting-edge artificial intelligence platform.
According to court documents, Saniger misled investors by claiming nate was powered by proprietary AI technology capable of automating the entire online shopping experience. The app was pitched as a universal checkout tool that could fill in user information, pick sizes, and complete purchases with a single tap—entirely without human assistance.
However, investigators say the technology didn’t actually exist in the way it was advertised. When nate’s so-called AI failed to execute tasks accurately, the company quietly outsourced the work to a call center in the Philippines, where human workers manually completed transactions behind the scenes—essentially pretending to be the app’s automation.
“This was not just a case of overpromising on a startup’s potential,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky. “It was a deliberate effort to mislead investors using the buzz around AI, taking advantage of the hype to raise millions for a product that wasn’t what it claimed to be.”
Saniger’s actions, prosecutors argue, undermined trust in genuine technological innovation by creating a facade of AI-driven efficiency while secretly relying on low-cost human labor. Authorities have also pointed out the harm such schemes cause to both investors and the broader tech community, particularly in an era where faith in artificial intelligence is shaping massive financial decisions.
Nate, which launched around 2018, gained attention for its sleek promise: enabling consumers to shop from any e-commerce site using a single app, with no need to manually input details. The interface suggested it was powered by sophisticated machine learning, but in reality, most transactions were being processed manually—often without users knowing.
Federal prosecutors have now charged Saniger with one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud, each carrying a maximum sentence of up to 20 years. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also filed a separate civil complaint against him.
Efforts to contact nate for comment were unsuccessful, as the company’s listed email address returned undeliverable.
The case echoes other high-profile tech deceptions, most notably the downfall of Theranos, raising fresh concerns about the gap between Silicon Valley’s hype and reality—especially when it comes to emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.