McDonald's sued in US federal court over alleged AI-powered menu price-fixing

In the United States, a proposed class action lawsuit was filed on October 2, 2026, in federal court in Chicago against McDonald's. The lawsuit alleges that McDonald's illegally coordinated menu prices across its franchises and company-owned restaurants using an AI-powered pricing system, violating U.S. antitrust law. The plaintiff, an Illinois resident, seeks to represent millions of McDonald's customers. McDonald's responded on October 5, calling the allegations speculative and uninformed, and stated that AI does not set menu prices and that franchisees make their own pricing decisions. The case is part of a broader trend of lawsuits against companies using algorithms to fix prices.