McDonald’s is facing a proposed nationwide class-action lawsuit filed Friday in a federal court in Chicago accusing the company of engaging in illegal price fixing through an AI-driven pricing system. The suit alleges that McDonald’s coordinated menu prices across its company-owned restaurants and nearly 14,000 franchises by using machine-learning algorithms that base pricing decisions on nonpublic data.

The complaint contends that McDonald’s violated antitrust laws by conspiring with independent franchisees to align prices rather than allowing them to set prices independently, as required by law. According to the filing, the AI system analyzes millions of daily transactions to optimize prices across the chain, which plaintiffs say effectively facilitates coordinated price control.

McDonald’s has denied the accusations, describing them as speculative and lacking sufficient evidence. The fast-food giant stated that the claims do not reflect the company’s pricing practices or policies.

Last week, a separate report detailed that McDonald’s uses advanced algorithms to continually adjust prices in response to customer behavior and sales trends, a practice common in many industries aiming to maximize efficiency and profitability. However, the lawsuit challenges this practice, arguing that such coordination crosses legal boundaries when it involves independent franchisees.

The case highlights ongoing tensions in the fast-food industry over the use of artificial intelligence and data-driven tools to set prices, raising broader questions about competition and legal limits in franchise operations. The court proceedings will likely examine whether McDonald’s pricing system unlawfully limits competition or simply represents a modern application of dynamic pricing techniques.