McDonald’s AI Pricing Engine Tests What Diners Will Pay for a Big Mac

This marks a shift in how consumer-facing brands deploy AI: not for supply chains or drive-thru automation, but for granular price discovery at the individual store level. The practical effect is that a familiar, standardized product like a Big Mac no longer carries a predictable price, which complicates consumer expectations and makes cross-location comparison harder. The open question is whether such per-item, per-location pricing becomes a durable norm in quick-service dining or triggers enough customer friction to be walked back.