India, Oct. 6 -- McDonald's (MCD) has been sued in federal court in Chicago in a proposed nationwide class action accusing the fast-food chain of illegally coordinating menu prices across its franchised and company-owned restaurants through an AI-powered pricing system.
The lawsuit alleges McDonald's conspired with independent franchisees to fix prices using algorithms trained on nonpublic data, potentially affecting millions of customers.
The lawsuit follows a Reuters report that McDonald's uses machine-learning technology to analyse millions of daily transactions across its nearly 14,000 restaurants and provide pricing recommendations.
The system considers factors including local demand, operating costs and competition. The plaintiff's...