A lawsuit has been filed against McDonald's in federal court in Chicago as part of an initiated nationwide class action. It alleges that the fast-food chain unlawfully coordinates menu prices at both franchised and company-owned restaurants using an artificial intelligence-based pricing system, UNN reports, citing Reuters.
The lawsuit, filed on Friday, says that McDonald’s violated U.S. antitrust law by conspiring with independent franchisees to fix prices using algorithms trained on nonpublic data.
Last week, Reuters reported that McDonald’s pricing system uses machine-learning algorithms to continuously analyze data from millions of daily transactions at nearly 14,000 restaurants in the chain.
The lawsuit cites a Reuters article stating that other fast-food chains are also turning to artificial intelligence to optimize pricing and other operational processes.
“Independent businesses should set prices independently,” the lawsuit states.
It should be added
On Monday, McDonald’s issued a statement calling the allegations speculative and baseless.
“Artificial intelligence does not set the price of a Big Mac or any other menu item,” the company said. It emphasized that franchisees make their own pricing decisions, and that the use of tools for recommending prices and analytics is common practice across various industries.
In recent years, a number of class actions have been filed in the United States alleging that companies used algorithms or artificial intelligence to unlawfully coordinate prices for hotel rooms, housing rentals, and other goods and services.
Lark Turner, the plaintiff’s attorney, said that McDonald's “uses its vast data sets and franchise system to squeeze every last fry out of customers.”
According to court filings, the plaintiff—a resident of Illinois—seeks to represent a class that could number millions of McDonald's customers.