Balint, Warren, Colleagues Demand Answers from McDonald’s on Whether AI Pricing Tools are Raising Prices and Facilitating Collusion

Text of Letter (PDF) Washington, D.C. — Representative Becca Balint (VT-AL), a member of the House Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) demanded answers from McDonald’s President and CEO Chris Kempczinski about how the company generates AI-driven pricing recommendations, whether McDonald’s pressures franchisees to follow them, and how the company assesses the technology’s potential harm to consumers and competition. The letter came after reports that the company is using artificial intelligence (AI) to determine the “optimal price” for individual menu items at each of its locations and pushing franchisees to adopt these AI-based prices. “We are concerned that McDonald’s may be using AI to squeeze consumers into paying higher prices, and that its AI pricing tools may facilitate collusion between franchisees who should be operating as competitors,” wrote the lawmakers. U.S. Representatives Greg Casar (D-Texas), Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.), and Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) also signed the letter. According to recent reports, McDonald’s has developed an AI-based pricing tool that it may be using to recommend specific prices for each individual store, building off the massive trove of consumer data that Amazon has collected through its loyalty program and mobile app. For example, two McDonald’s-operated restaurants just two miles apart in Fresno, California reportedly charged prices that differed by as much as 21 percent for the same menu items. The lawmakers raised particular concerns about McDonald’s use of AI-based pricing at a time when food prices are rising nationwide and particularly at McDonald’s. One report found that certain McDonald’s menu prices doubled between 2014 and 2024, rising more than three times as fast as overall inflation and driving away customers who previously relied on McDonald’s for an affordable meal. “We are concerned that McDonald’s is using its extensive consumer data and algorithmic pricing tools to unfairly raise prices on consumers who are already struggling with high food and dining costs,” wrote the lawmakers. The lawmakers also questioned McDonald’s for reportedly putting pressure on franchisees to adopt its pricing recommendations, including through new business standards and potential consequences for franchise renewals. They warned that encouraging competing franchisees to rely on a shared pricing tool informed by nonpublic data could undermine independent pricing decisions and raise antitrust concerns. “While McDonald’s asserts that using data and analytics to inform pricing is a standard business practice, pressuring competing franchisees to use a shared AI pricing tool built on nonpublic data is not a standard business practice, but rather a potential antitrust issue,” continued the lawmakers. The lawmakers requested answers by November 16, 2026, on the data and algorithms used to generate pricing recommendations, the extent to which franchisees adopt those recommendations, the pressure McDonald’s places on franchisees to comply, and the company’s assessment of potential antitrust risks. ###