Lawsuit alleges McDonald’s is rigging its prices based on location — and algorithm

When the first McDonald’s restaurant opened in 1940, computers as we know them didn’t exist yet.

Today, they could be the reason it’s seemingly unaffordable to eat fast food.

‘AI does not set the price of a Big Mac or ⁠any other menu item.’

A lawsuit filed in federal court in Chicago is alleging that higher prices at McDonald’s are a result of price-fixing by way of an AI-powered algorithm.

The Chicago lawsuit claims the fast-food company illegally coordinates menu prices across franchises in the United States, using an AI pricing system that analyzes customer data on an ongoing basis.

The accusation argues that the algorithm tracks millions of daily transactions from its approximately 14,000 restaurants and generates pricing recommendations to its franchisees, the Daily Mail reported.

This would allow the