{"id":2687022,"date":"2026-10-18T07:43:01","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T11:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawsuit-accuses-mcdonalds-of-ai-scheme-to-nickel-and-dime-customers-down-to-the-last-french-fry\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T07:43:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T11:43:01","slug":"lawsuit-accuses-mcdonalds-of-ai-scheme-to-nickel-and-dime-customers-down-to-the-last-french-fry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawsuit-accuses-mcdonalds-of-ai-scheme-to-nickel-and-dime-customers-down-to-the-last-french-fry\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit Accuses McDonald&#8217;s of AI Scheme to Nickel-And-Dime Customers &#8216;Down to the Last French Fry&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flawsuit-accuses-mcdonalds-of-ai-scheme-to-nickel-and-dime-customers-down-to-the-last-french-fry%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2687022&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>The artificial intelligence tool behind a fast-food giant\u2019s menu prices is now at the center of a federal price-fixing lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">An Illinois resident and frequent customer, Michael Thomas, filed a lawsuit against McDonald\u2019s in Chicago federal court on Friday, alleging the chain conspired with its franchise owners to fix menu prices through an AI-powered pricing system, according to the complaint <a class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/inside-mcdonalds-push-have-ai-price-your-big-mac-2026-09-29\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> by Reuters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">The lawsuit landed days after Reuters <a class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/inside-mcdonalds-push-have-ai-price-your-big-mac-2026-09-29\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> that the company was pressuring franchise owners to utilize AI to determine menu prices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">McDonald\u2019s uses a machine-learning pricing engine, trained on competing restaurants\u2019 sales data, to determine how much customers will pay for products at a given franchise, the complaint alleged.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">\u201c[The pricing engine] estimates how much each restaurant\u2019s likely customers are willing to pay and tells each franchisee how sensitive its likely customers are to prices using competing [sic] the nonpublic data of competing McDonald\u2019s to do so,\u201d the complaint stated in part, which cites Reuters\u2019 initial <a class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/inside-mcdonalds-push-have-ai-price-your-big-mac-2026-09-29\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> on the AI tool.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">\u201cThe algorithm is programmed with rules tying one restaurant\u2019s price increases to whether other McDonald\u2019s restaurants have already raised prices on the same item.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">McDonald\u2019s is \u201cleveraging its troves of data and its franchised system to nickel-and-dime consumers down to \u2060the last \u200bFrench fry,\u201d Lark Turner, a lawyer representing the plaintiff said in a statement to Reuters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">McDonald\u2019s rejects the claims of the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">\u201cThe complaint is filled with inaccuracies and we will vigorously defend against this lawsuit. AI does not set menu prices at McDonald\u2019s restaurants \u2014 McDonald\u2019s franchisees do,\u201d McDonald\u2019s Corporation said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">\u201cOptional tools are available to franchisees to help them make the best decisions for their businesses and customers, but these tools do not automate, coordinate or fix pricing in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">Tiger Analytics operates the AI system McDonald\u2019s relies on, which mines the chain\u2019s sales records to suggest what each of its nearly 14,000 U.S. restaurants should charge, Reuters reported Sept. 29.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">The discrepancy in Big Mac prices, as a result of the AI tool, was demonstrated by Reuters in a video <a class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ReutersBiz\/status\/2104883668301017205?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">posted<\/a> Sept. 29 on X.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">The company sometimes raises pricing with franchises owners who don\u2019t follow its recommendations, McDonald\u2019s CEO Chris Kempczinski <a class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.benzinga.com\/news\/26\/09\/62016366\/full-transcript-mcdonald-s-q2-2026-earnings-call\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> on an Aug. 4 earnings call.<\/p>\n<div class=\"disclaimer\">\n<p>All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. 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An Illinois resident and frequent customer, Michael Thomas, filed a lawsuit against McDonald\u2019s in Chicago federal court on Friday, alleging the chain conspired with its franchise owners to fix menu prices through an AI-powered pricing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2687023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Untitled-design-7.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2687022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Untitled-design-7.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2687022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2687022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2687022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2687023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2687022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2687022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2687022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}