Inside McDonald’s push to have AI price your Big Mac
One pricing factor for McDonald's that artificial intelligence has supercharged: an estimate of how much each store's patrons are willing to pay.
NEW YORK – McDonald's is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to set menu prices across the U.S. and certain international markets, a strategy aimed at increasing profits for the company's headquarters. However, this approach carries the risk of alienating customers and drawing antitrust scrutiny. A key aspect of the AI-driven pricing system is its ability to estimate each store's customers' willingness to pay, a factor that has been significantly enhanced by AI technology.
The specifics of how this pricing mechanism operates, its extensive AI utilization, the company's regulatory considerations, and the conflicts with its franchisees have not been disclosed until now. This report is based on an analysis of screenshots of the company's pricing engine from August and interviews with nine sources who possess firsthand knowledge of McDonald's strategic approach.
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Written by urgent.news from Japan Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
