Incident #1729
McDonald's Allegedly Used an AI Pricing Engine to Coordinate U.S. Menu Prices and Make Customers Overpay
Description
A U.S. consumer lawsuit alleged that fast-food chain McDonald's used an AI pricing engine trained on pooled confidential restaurant sales data to coordinate menu prices and make customers overpay. Franchisees allegedly faced pressure to follow its recommendations. McDonald's disputed the claims, saying franchisees independently set prices and the tool only provides recommendations.
Actors
Alleged Deployers
- mcdonald's
- mcdonald's-franchisees
- restaurants
Alleged Developers
- mcdonald's
- tiger-analytics
- algorithmic-pricing-system-developers
- deloitte
Harmed Parties
- mcdonald's-customers
- consumers
- michael-thomas