McDonald’s is facing a proposed nationwide class-action lawsuit accusing the fast-food giant of using an artificial intelligence-powered pricing system to coordinate menu prices across its restaurants.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Chicago on October 2, alleges that McDonald’s violated US antitrust law by using algorithms trained on non-public sales data to influence prices at independently operated franchises and company-owned restaurants.
The case focuses on a machine-learning pricing system that analyzes millions of transactions from the company’s nearly 14,000 US restaurants. The plaintiff argues that sharing pricing recommendations through the system reduces the independence that franchise operators are expected to have when setting prices.
McDonald’s has rejected the allegations, describing them as speculative and based on a misunderstanding of its pricing practices. The company says artificial intelligence does not set the price of its menu items and that franchisees remain responsible for their own pricing decisions.
The lawsuit seeks to represent potentially millions of customers and adds to growing legal scrutiny in the United States over the use of algorithms in pricing.
The case could become significant for businesses increasingly relying on AI and large datasets to recommend prices, particularly where independent operators use technology provided by a common corporate platform.
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