McDonald’s Hits Back at Claims It’s Using AI to Set Menu Prices: ‘This Is a Nothingburger’

McDonald’s is responding to claims that it uses artificial intelligence to set prices on its menu.

After a Reuters report, published on Tuesday, September 29, accused the fast-food chain of turning to AI to estimate how much diners at each store are willing to pay for their burgers and chicken nuggets, McDonald’s decided to set the record straight.

In the report, Reuters claimed that McDonald’s has a pricing engine that uses algorithms to analyze data from millions of daily transactions across nearly 14,000 of its restaurants in the U.S. AI then generates what the company calls “the optimal price” for each individual restaurant and even for each menu item, from soft drinks to Big Macs, creating what is otherwise known as “dynamic pricing.”

In a comment shared with the New York Post, a spokesperson for McDonald’s dismissed the report.

“We do not use AI to set prices,” the spokesperson said, calling the complaints “more sizzle than substance.”

“This is a nothingburger with maybe extra pickles,” the rep added.

The spokesperson also shut down the claims that McDonald’s uses “dynamic pricing,” with the rep noting that it’s “not on the menu at McDonald’s” and “never” has been.

That doesn’t mean McDonald’s doesn’t use AI, however, just not when it comes to setting menu prices.

Sharing a chart on its website on Thursday, October 1, titled “Separating Fact from Fiction,” the fast-food giant clarified that its use of AI and tech tools helps provide economic data to its franchisees about the neighborhoods where their restaurants are located. The company then provides recommendations or suggestions on pricing.

McDonald’s “pricing recommendation tool provides restaurant-specific recommendations. It does not change or set prices,” the chart maintains.

“Franchisees decide what prices to charge and whether to use the recommendations,” the chart notes. “The bottom line: The tool provides information. People make the final pricing decisions …AI does not set McDonald’s menu prices. Franchisees do.”