According to Reuters, McDonald's in the United States is facing a class action lawsuit in Chicago federal court brought by an Illinois resident, accusing the company of using artificial intelligence algorithms to illegally manipulate and coordinate menu prices at franchised and company-owned restaurants in violation of U.S. antitrust law. The lawsuit was filed on Oct. 2, and the plaintiff is seeking to represent potentially millions of McDonald's customers.
Reuters previously reported that McDonald's pricing engine analyzes millions of non-public transactions each day from nearly 14,000 stores across the country to help set prices. The complaint, citing Reuters, said this practice deprives independent businesses of their right to set prices on their own. Plaintiff's attorney Lark Turner said in a statement that McDonald's is using its vast data and franchise system to nickel-and-dime consumers, "not letting go of the profit on even a single fry."
In response to the allegations, McDonald's USA said in a statement on Oct. 5 that the claims are speculative and baseless. McDonald's stressed that franchisees make their own pricing decisions and that "AI does not set the prices of Big Macs or other menu items." It also said the use of pricing recommendations and analytics tools is common across industries. In recent years, a number of similar class actions have emerged in the United States accusing companies of using AI or algorithms to illegally coordinate consumer prices for hotel rooms, apartment rents and other goods and services.
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