Article · AI translation
IT Home reported on October 6 that McDonald’s has been sued in federal court in Chicago in a proposed nationwide class action, according to Reuters. The plaintiffs allege that the fast-food company used an AI pricing system to illegally coordinate menu prices across its franchised and company-operated restaurants.
IT Home noted that the lawsuit was filed last Friday, local time. The complaint says McDonald’s conspired with independent franchisees to manipulate prices using an algorithm trained on nonpublic data, in violation of U.S. antitrust law.
Reuters reported last week that McDonald’s pricing engine uses machine-learning algorithms to continuously analyze data generated by millions of transactions each day at its nearly 14,000 locations. The lawsuit cites that report, which also said other fast-food companies have begun using AI for pricing and other operations.
The complaint states: “Independently operated businesses must set their own prices for their products.”
McDonald’s issued a statement on Monday saying the allegations were speculative and lacked a factual basis.
“The prices of Big Macs and any other menu items are not set by artificial intelligence,” the company said. McDonald’s said individual franchisees have authority over pricing decisions and that pricing recommendation tools and data analytics are widely used across industries.
In recent years, several class actions have been filed in the United States alleging that companies used algorithms or AI to illegally coordinate prices for hotel rooms, apartment rentals and other consumer products.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Lark Turner said in a statement that McDonald’s “is using its vast troves of data and franchise system to squeeze every last penny out of consumers, down to the last order of fries.”
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs are Illinois residents who hope to bring this class action on behalf of potentially millions of McDonald’s customers.