McDonald’s is facing a proposed nationwide class-action lawsuit in the United States accusing the fast-food company 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 company-owned and independently operated franchise restaurants. The case could potentially involve millions of customers.
The complaint centres on a machine-learning pricing system that analyses millions of transactions from McDonald’s nearly 14,000 US locations and generates pricing recommendations. The plaintiff argues that using shared data and recommendations across independently operated restaurants amounts to unlawful coordination.
McDonald’s rejected the allegations, saying they are speculative and based on a misunderstanding of its pricing practices. The company said franchisees remain responsible for setting their own prices and that artificial intelligence does not determine the price of menu items such as the Big Mac.
The lawsuit is part of a wider wave of US litigation examining whether businesses can use algorithms to influence prices without violating competition laws. Similar cases have targeted pricing systems in areas including hotels and apartment rentals.
The case could add to growing scrutiny of how companies use artificial intelligence and large pools of commercial data to make pricing decisions.
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