Verified
McDonald's
Experimenting- Quick service
- 150,000+ employees (2025)
- ArchIQ, built with Google
- AI scales in 10,000+ restaurants
- ArchIQ rollout from 2027
McDonald's deploys AI inside its restaurants: ArchIQ, a generative AI restaurant operating system built with Google, combines Archy drive-thru voice ordering, inventory tracking and equipment alerts on Google edge servers, while AI accuracy scales check orders in more than 10,000 restaurants. ArchIQ was in test at five U.S. restaurants in 2026 and deploys in bundles from 2027. McDonald's reports AI targets but no realized return credited to AI; Global CIO Brian Rice leads the technology, and Das Dasgupta was named Chief Data, Analytics and AI Officer in Sep 2025.
corporate.mcdonalds.comTheir approach to AI
- The platform
- ArchIQ is McDonald's generative AI restaurant operating system, enabled by Google edge servers and a standard restaurant data lake, combining drive-thru voice ordering, inventory tracking, equipment alerts and order accuracy scales (Sep 2026).
- The models
- McDonald's has not named its models; Archy, the ArchIQ drive-thru voice agent, is developed with Google and runs on Google edge computers inside restaurants (Jun and Sep 2026), after McDonald's ended an IBM voice-ordering test in 2024.
- The reach
- AI accuracy scales check orders in more than 10,000 McDonald's restaurants, while ArchIQ ran in test at five U.S. restaurants in Jun 2026 and deploys in sequenced bundles from 2027 (Sep 2026).
- The catch
- McDonald's reports targets, not realized AI returns: its 250 basis point restaurant efficiency goal blends ArchIQ with supply chain and marketing savings, and franchisees share with McDonald's the cost of a NEXT upgrade of about $800,000 per U.S. restaurant, of which AI is one part (Sep 2026).
Snapshot
- Employees
- 150,000+
- Company employees at year-end 2025 (FY2025 Form 10-K); McDonald's plans to train about 2 million people across the system
- Technology budget
- Not disclosed
- Chris Kempczinski said in Sep 2026 that technology spend has been large but not broken out; baseline capex about $3B a year from 2027
- AI/ML headcount
- Not disclosed
- No count of AI, data or technology staff published
- Who owns AI
- Brian Rice, Global CIO
- EVP since Aug 2022; Das Dasgupta named Chief Data, Analytics and AI Officer in Sep 2025; Jill McDonald's team deploys ArchIQ
- Platform
- ArchIQ, built with Google
- Generative AI restaurant operating system unveiled Jun 2026; deploys in bundles from 2027
- Models
- Google (Archy); others not disclosed
- IBM voice-ordering test ended Jul 2024
- Reach
- AI scales in 10,000+ restaurants
- Sep 2026; ArchIQ in test at five U.S. restaurants (Jun 2026)
- Restaurants
- 46,000+
- About 95% franchised; their operations feed one restaurant data lake (Sep 2026)
Key findings
McDonald's told investors on Sep 23, 2026 that ArchIQ, its generative AI restaurant operating system, will deploy in sequenced bundles from 2027, and that it plans about $8.5 billion of rent relief and capital support for franchisees through 2036, about $5 billion of it by 2030 for ArchIQ technology bundles and kitchen and operations upgrades.
Archy, the ArchIQ drive-thru voice agent developed with Google, takes orders in English and Spanish with accuracy above 90% by McDonald's own count, and Brian Rice said in Sep 2026 that Archy will free at least 50 labor hours a week per restaurant as it scales; McDonald's ended an IBM voice-ordering test at more than 100 restaurants in Jul 2024.
McDonald's has put Google edge technology in thousands of restaurants across seven major markets and plans to finish the U.S. rollout in 2027, feeding a standard restaurant data lake that Brian Rice said captures billions of data points a day from more than 46,000 restaurants (Sep 2026).
McDonald's targets about 250 basis points of gross restaurant-level efficiency, about $100,000 of gross annual cash flow for an average U.S. restaurant, but Chris Kempczinski said in Sep 2026 that the figure combines ArchIQ with supply chain and marketing savings, and McDonald's has reported no realized firm-level return on AI.
McDonald's AI has drawn legal and public scrutiny: proposed class actions filed in federal court in Illinois on Oct 2 and Oct 15, 2026 challenge the machine-learning menu pricing recommendations McDonald's gives franchisees, which McDonald's says do not set prices, and a flaw at hiring chatbot vendor Paradox.ai left as many as 64 million applicant records open to access in Jul 2025, according to Wired.
Where McDonald's sits
- Stage
- Experimenting
McDonald's has reported no business return it credits to AI, for any use case or for the company as a whole: its about 250 basis points of gross restaurant-level efficiency is a target that blends ArchIQ with supply chain and marketing savings, its plan to cut corporate G&A to about 1.9% of systemwide sales by 2030 is a target only partly credited to AI, Archy's 50 freed labor hours a week per restaurant is an expectation for when it scales (Sep 2026), and the 30 basis point margin gain McDonald's China credited to its RGM BOSS manager system (Dec 2023) is an affiliate's figure that does not separate AI from the rest of the system. McDonald's has not reported how many of its more than 150,000 employees use AI tools either: its AI in production runs in restaurants, with accuracy scales in more than 10,000 (Sep 2026), while ArchIQ was in test at five U.S. restaurants and deploys in bundles from 2027. McDonald's therefore stays at Experimenting, short of Piloting, until it reports one realized return it credits to AI, such as ArchIQ labor savings, or states how many employees use its AI tools under a named owner.
How the stages are defined - Ownership
- Global CIO Brian Rice; SVP Das Dasgupta, Chief Data, Analytics and AI Officer since Sep 2025
- Platform
- Hybrid: ArchIQ, built with Google; hiring chatbot bought from Paradox.ai
- Models
- Google behind Archy voice ordering; other models not disclosed
- Hosting
- Google Distributed Cloud edge servers in restaurants, linked to Google Cloud; AWS also in the stack per Constellation Research, unconfirmed
- Reach
- AI scales in 10,000+ restaurants; ArchIQ in test (2026)
How they deploy
One global stack before AI
Chris Kempczinski told investors in Sep 2026 that McDonald's legacy technology was outdated and unstable, with hundreds of finance and HR systems, every country on its own app and data scattered in small pools instead of data lakes. McDonald's said in Aug 2026 that its major markets were close to running one app, one loyalty program, one pricing engine, one HR system and one finance system, and that pooling its data in a global data lake would position it for AI. Kempczinski said in Feb 2026 that McDonald's was not talking much about AI in 2020 or even 2023.
Restaurant AI built with Google
McDonald's announced a multi-year global partnership with Google Cloud on Dec 6, 2023 to put Google Distributed Cloud edge computing in its restaurants and to apply generative AI through a dedicated Google team in Chicago near Speedee Labs, McDonald's innovation center. Brian Rice said in Sep 2026 that Google edge technology now runs in thousands of restaurants across seven major markets and brings AI computing power directly into the restaurant.
ArchIQ at the center of the NEXT strategy
McDonald's NEXT strategy, unveiled to the system in Jun 2026 and set out for investors on Sep 23, 2026, has four pillars (menu, consumer, restaurant and people), and Chris Kempczinski called AI an accelerator across all of them. The restaurant pillar rests on ArchIQ, which brings automation, diagnostics, predictive alerts and coaching into one platform for crew, managers, franchisees and operations staff, and builds on learnings from McDonald's China's more than 8,000 restaurants, where the RGM BOSS manager system gives restaurant managers one source of data.
Buy, test, sell, return
McDonald's bought personalization firm Dynamic Yield in 2019 and later sold it to Mastercard, and sold its voice-ordering unit McD Tech Labs, formerly Apprente, to IBM in 2021 while partnering with IBM on drive-thru ordering. McDonald's ended that IBM test at more than 100 restaurants in Jul 2024, said voice ordering would still be part of its future, and returned to it with Archy, developed with Google and unveiled in Jun 2026.
Deployment paced by franchisee returns
McDonald's says each market will set its own path to NEXT, with ArchIQ deployed in sequenced bundles that put the highest financial impact first, only where technology prerequisites are in place and restaurant readiness is verified (Jill McDonald, Sep 2026). Chris Kempczinski said McDonald's has tried to front-load productivity benefits such as Archy so franchisees gain the capacity to fund the rest, and that Archy's English and Spanish support means markets such as Germany will get it later.
- Deployment model
- McDonald's builds AI centrally and deploys it through franchisees, who run about 95% of its more than 46,000 restaurants. Global Technology under EVP and Global CIO Brian Rice built the Google edge network, the unified point of sale and the restaurant data lake that ArchIQ runs on; Speedee Labs in Chicago tests ideas, alongside four operational concept restaurants in Chicago and a warehouse learning lab shown to investors in Sep 2026; and Jill McDonald's restaurant experience organization deploys ArchIQ market by market from 2027. Franchisees fund much of the restaurant technology, with McDonald's rent relief and capital support, and pay fees that recover part of the cost of McDonald's technology and digital platforms (FY2025 Form 10-K).
- Model providers
- McDonald's has not said which AI models it runs. ArchIQ, including Archy, its drive-thru voice agent, is developed with Google (AI News, Jun 2026), Archy runs on Google edge computers installed in restaurants (PYMNTS, Sep 2026), and Constellation Research cites McDonald's job listings that mention Google's BigQuery and Vertex AI. The Dec 2023 Accenture partnership announcement said Google Cloud would provide AI managed services to scale generative AI. Reuters reported in Sep 2026, citing two former employees of Tiger Analytics, that Tiger runs the AI platform behind McDonald's menu pricing engine. McDonald's earlier voice ordering ran with IBM from 2021 until the Automated Order Taker test ended in Jul 2024, after a BTIG analyst put its accuracy in the low to mid 80% range (CNBC). McHire, the hiring site many franchisees use, screens applicants with Olivia, a chatbot built by Paradox.ai (Wired, Jul 2025).
- Data and infrastructure
- McDonald's has deployed Google edge technology to thousands of restaurants across seven major markets, plans to finish the U.S. rollout in 2027, has unified its point of sale systems across nearly all markets, and built a standard restaurant data lake connected to restaurant operations that Brian Rice said captures billions of data points a day from more than 46,000 restaurants (Sep 2026). Ian Borden said in Sep 2026 that McDonald's has built a trusted enterprise data lake and consolidated work into global capability centers, and Constellation Research quoted Borden saying McDonald's once had 600 finance systems and several hundred HR systems. Chris Kempczinski said in Sep 2026 that McDonald's loyalty data, from nearly 220 million 90-day active members, is particularly valuable for training new AI capabilities. Constellation Research places AWS in McDonald's cloud and analytics stack and, from job listings, mParticle, Oracle, SAP SuccessFactors, ServiceNow and Collibra; McDonald's has not confirmed them.
Platforms and internal tools
ArchIQUnveiled Jun 2026; deploys from 2027
ArchIQ is McDonald's generative AI restaurant operating system, combining drive-thru voice ordering (Archy), automated inventory with Bluetooth Low Energy tags, connected equipment with computer vision and predictive maintenance alerts, and intelligent accuracy scales in one platform for crew, managers, franchisees and operations teams. McDonald's unveiled ArchIQ at its Worldwide Convention in Las Vegas in Jun 2026 and showed it in four Chicago concept restaurants in Sep 2026.
- Users
- Five U.S. test restaurants (Jun 2026); four Chicago concept restaurants (Sep 2026)
- Models
- Google (Archy); others not disclosed
Google edge network and restaurant data lakeFrom 2024
McDonald's runs Google Distributed Cloud edge hardware and software inside restaurants so they can run cloud applications and AI locally, and links restaurant operations to a standard data lake. Google edge technology was in thousands of restaurants across seven major markets in Sep 2026, with the U.S. rollout due to finish in 2027.
- Users
- Thousands of restaurants in seven major markets (Sep 2026)
Accuracy ScalesBy Dec 2023
Accuracy Scales, created in France, weigh orders so crew can catch and correct about 10% of the orders they inspect before customers receive them; McDonald's said in Dec 2023 that the scales use AI technology and were then deployed in some of its largest international operated markets.
- Users
- 10,000+ restaurants (Sep 2026)
RGM BOSS (McDonald's China)
RGM BOSS, the Restaurant General Manager Business Operating Service System, gives McDonald's China restaurant managers one source of real-time data on operations, scheduling and automated inventory, and is the model ArchIQ builds on. McDonald's China, an affiliate in which McDonald's holds an equity investment (FY2025 Form 10-K), had deployed it by Dec 2023.
- Users
- McDonald's China, 8,000+ restaurants (Sep 2026)
Menu pricing engine
McDonald's menu pricing engine uses machine learning on data from millions of daily transactions to recommend a price for each menu item at each restaurant, including an estimate of local customers' willingness to pay, while franchisees keep the final pricing decision. Reuters reported on Sep 29, 2026 that the engine covers nearly 14,000 restaurants in the U.S. and some other markets, that Tiger Analytics runs its AI platform, and that since Jan 2026 McDonald's business standards have expected franchisees to engage with its approved pricing consultant and tools.
- Users
- Nearly 14,000 restaurants (Reuters, Sep 2026)
GMA One (Global Mobile App One)Pilot in France from late 2026
GMA One is McDonald's first global mobile platform, unifying ordering, marketing, loyalty and data on one code base with personalized rewards and offers. McDonald's calls its modular architecture AI-ready and built to plug into conversational commerce channels, and plans to scale it across its 10 largest owned markets by the end of 2028.
McHire with Olivia
McHire.com is the McDonald's hiring site many franchisees use; its Olivia chatbot, built by Paradox.ai, screens applicants and runs a personality test.
- Models
- Paradox.ai
Vendors and partners
Google CloudDec 2023
Edge computing in restaurants, generative AI partner, developer of Archy · The Dec 6, 2023 multi-year agreement covers Google Distributed Cloud in thousands of restaurants, upgrades to the McDonald's app and kiosks, and a dedicated Google Cloud generative AI team in Chicago.
IBM2021
Automated Order Taker drive-thru voice ordering · IBM bought McD Tech Labs from McDonald's in 2021; McDonald's ended the voice-ordering test at more than 100 restaurants by Jul 26, 2024.
Paradox.ai
Olivia hiring chatbot on McHire · McDonald's blamed Paradox.ai for a Jul 2025 vulnerability and said it was fixed the day it was reported.
Qualtrics
Experience management platform for guest and employee feedback · McDonald's plans to connect Qualtrics data to its common data lake and deploy the system across the U.S. and international operated markets in Q1 2027.
AccentureExpanded Dec 2023
Edge technology and generative AI deployment in restaurants; AI, data and edge skills training · McDonald's and Accenture expanded their partnership on Dec 19, 2023 to apply generative AI and edge technology across restaurants worldwide and to train McDonald's workforce in AI, data and edge computing.
Tiger Analytics
Runs the AI platform behind the menu pricing engine, according to Reuters · Reuters cited two former Tiger Analytics employees in Sep 2026, who said McDonald's regularly supplied rules and corporate targets; Tiger declined to comment.
Deloitte
Pricing consultant giving price recommendations to restaurants · Nation's Restaurant News reported in Oct 2026 that McDonald's has long used Deloitte as its pricing consultant; a proposed class action filed on Oct 15, 2026 names Deloitte Consulting as a defendant.
Leadership
AI, data and platform leaders
Executives
AI org map
Central technology and data platforms; deployment through markets and franchisees
McDonald's splits AI ownership between technology and data. Global CIO Brian Rice, an executive officer, runs Global Technology, which built the Google edge network, unified point of sale, the restaurant data lake and ArchIQ, and the Global CISO reports to him; Das Dasgupta has led data, analytics and AI strategy since McDonald's created the role in Sep 2025. Jill McDonald's restaurant experience organization deploys Restaurant NEXT and ArchIQ through the markets, where franchisees run about 95% of restaurants, while Morgan Flatley's marketing team runs loyalty personalization.
McDonald's has not published how many people work on AI, data or technology. McDonald's AI work sits in Global Technology under Global CIO Brian Rice, which includes a Global Cybersecurity organization led by a Global CISO who reports to Rice (FY2025 Form 10-K); with Das Dasgupta, named SVP and Global Chief Data, Analytics and AI Officer in Sep 2025; in Global Business Services and its global capability centers, including a global office in Hyderabad, India that McDonald's described to Reuters in Aug 2025 as a hub for data governance, engineering and platform architecture; at Speedee Labs, McDonald's innovation center in Chicago; and with a dedicated Google Cloud team in Chicago set up under the Dec 2023 partnership.
Reporting lines
Chairman and CEO
Global Technology
Brian Rice, Global CIO
Line to the CEO inferred from Rice's executive officer status; McDonald's does not publish reporting lines
Global Cybersecurity
Global CISO (not named)
CISO reports to the CIO (FY2025 Form 10-K)
Global Finance
Ian Borden, Global CFO
Borden described Global Business Services and its global capability centers to investors in Sep 2026; their current head and reporting line are not named in the sources read
Global Marketing and New Business Ventures
Global People
Tiffanie Boyd
Make It Golden training and the Qualtrics feedback rollout; line inferred
McDonald's USA
International Operated Markets
International Developmental Licensed Markets
U.S. Technology
Mustafa Husain, U.S. CIO
From May 2026; McDonald's does not publish whether the U.S. CIO reports to the Global CIO or to McDonald's USA
Data, Analytics and AI
Created Sep 2025 and announced by Skye Anderson, then President of Global Business Services; reporting line not published
McDonald's publishes its executive officers in the FY2025 Form 10-K but not their reporting lines, except that the Global CISO reports to the Global CIO and the Audit & Finance Committee receives cybersecurity updates from both. The lines to the CEO are inferred. McDonald's has not said whom Chief Data, Analytics and AI Officer Das Dasgupta reports to, or who has led Global Business Services since Skye Anderson moved to McDonald's USA, where she was COO from Apr 2026 and President from Aug 2026.
Named people
Use cases
McDonald's runs AI in production in a few narrow restaurant tools at scale (accuracy scales, demand forecasting, the menu pricing engine, China's RGM BOSS and a hiring chatbot) and is testing ArchIQ, a generative AI restaurant operating system, for deployment from 2027. McDonald's has published no realized business return credited to AI for any of these use cases: Archy's 50 freed labor hours a week is a target, Brian Rice did not call the inventory tags behind ArchIQ's labor and food waste savings AI, and McDonald's China did not say how much of RGM BOSS's 30 basis point margin gain (Dec 2023) came from AI. At the firm level McDonald's reports only targets: about 250 basis points of gross restaurant-level efficiency, which blends ArchIQ with supply chain and marketing savings, and corporate G&A of about 1.9% of systemwide sales by 2030, partly through AI.
| Use case | Area | Status | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archy drive-thru voice ordering Archy takes drive-thru orders in English and Spanish with accuracy above 90% by McDonald's count, runs on Google edge computers in restaurants, and makes suggestive sales that Ian Borden expects to raise the average check. Brian Rice said in Sep 2026 that Archy will free at least 50 labor hours a week per restaurant as it scales, a company target not yet reported as a result. | Restaurant operations | Pilot | |
| ArchIQ automated inventory ArchIQ tracks restaurant stock in real time with Bluetooth Low Energy tags, automating one of the most time-consuming restaurant tasks. Brian Rice said in Sep 2026 that the tags save about five labor hours a week and cut food waste by 15%, without saying where that was measured or describing the tracking as AI. | Restaurant operations | Pilot | |
| Connected equipment and computer vision ArchIQ uses connected kitchen equipment and computer vision to monitor food quality and shift equipment maintenance to predictive alerts, which McDonald's says improves key equipment and menu availability by about 50% per restaurant. | Restaurant operations | Pilot | |
| Accuracy Scales Accuracy Scales verify millions of orders a day so crew can catch and correct about 10% of inspected orders before they reach customers, which McDonald's says cuts delivery refunds and frees drive-thru capacity at peak hours. | Restaurant operations | In production | |
| eProduction demand forecasting eProduction uses predictive analytics to tell crew what to cook and when based on expected demand, and ran in more than 19,000 McDonald's restaurants in Dec 2023. | Restaurant operations | In production | |
| RGM BOSS restaurant manager system RGM BOSS gives McDonald's China restaurant managers real-time visibility into operations, scheduling and inventory across McDonald's China's more than 8,000 restaurants. McDonald's China said in Dec 2023 that RGM BOSS lifted restaurant margin by 30 basis points and grouped it among AI-enabled tools for crew, without saying which RGM BOSS features use AI; McDonald's China is an affiliate in which McDonald's holds an equity investment. | McDonald's China | In production | |
| Menu pricing engine A machine-learning pricing engine recommends menu prices to franchisees by restaurant and item across nearly 14,000 restaurants, and Ian Borden said in Sep 2026 that AI-enabled revenue management will help raise the average check over time; franchisees keep the final pricing decision. | Revenue management | In production | |
| GMA One personalization and conversational commerce GMA One, McDonald's global mobile platform, delivers personalized rewards and offers to loyalty members and is built to connect to conversational commerce channels, with a pilot in France from late 2026. | Consumer and digital | Announced | |
| Olivia hiring chatbot on McHire Olivia, a Paradox.ai chatbot on McHire.com, screens job applicants for the many franchisees that use the site. | People | In production | |
| Back-office process automation Ian Borden said in Sep 2026 that AI and data capabilities will further enable the finance, HR and other processes McDonald's has consolidated into Global Business Services and its global capability centers, and that AI will help bring corporate G&A down to about 1.9% of systemwide sales by 2030. | Corporate | Announced |
Adoption
McDonald's AI has spread through restaurant tools more than through employee assistants. Predictive demand forecasting ran in more than 19,000 restaurants and AI-assisted accuracy scales in its largest international markets by Dec 2023, and the scales reached more than 10,000 restaurants by Sep 2026, while the machine-learning pricing engine covered nearly 14,000 restaurants (Reuters, Sep 2026). ArchIQ moved from five U.S. test restaurants in Jun 2026, where a franchisee account reported more than 1 million orders handled, to four Chicago concept restaurants shown to investors in Sep 2026, with bundles deploying from 2027 as Google edge hardware reaches each restaurant. McDonald's has not disclosed a generative AI assistant for its more than 150,000 employees or how many staff use AI tools.
By the numbers
Rollout, first pilot to today
2019
McDonald's bought personalization firm Dynamic Yield, which it later sold to Mastercard.
2021
McDonald's sold McD Tech Labs, formerly Apprente, to IBM and began testing IBM's automated drive-thru voice ordering.
Dec 6, 2023
McDonald's announced a multi-year Google Cloud partnership for edge computing and generative AI, and said voice ordering ran in nearly 100 U.S. drive-thrus and eProduction forecasting in more than 19,000 restaurants.
Dec 19, 2023
McDonald's and Accenture expanded their partnership to apply generative AI and edge technology across McDonald's restaurants and to train its workforce in AI, data and edge computing, with Google Cloud providing AI managed services.
Jun 2024
McDonald's told franchisees it would shut off the IBM Automated Order Taker at more than 100 restaurants by Jul 26, 2024, while saying voice ordering would be part of its future.
Aug 2, 2025
McDonald's told Reuters it planned to double down on AI investment by 2027, with a new global office in Hyderabad, India as a hub for data governance, engineering and platform architecture, and that AI checked orders before they reached customers at 400 restaurants, with 40,000 planned by 2027.
Sep 2025
McDonald's created the role of SVP and Global Chief Data, Analytics and AI Officer and named Das Dasgupta, formerly chief data and analytics officer at Starbucks, to lead its enterprise data, analytics and AI strategy.
Jun 2026
McDonald's unveiled ArchIQ, a Google-powered AI ordering and operations system, at its Worldwide Convention in Las Vegas, in test at five U.S. restaurants.
Sep 23, 2026
McDonald's said Google edge technology runs in thousands of restaurants across seven major markets, accuracy scales in more than 10,000, and that ArchIQ bundles deploy from 2027.
Economics & controls
Spend and ROI
Technology budget
McDonald's does not disclose a technology budget. Chris Kempczinski said in Sep 2026 that building a common global technology platform and moving data into data lakes took a massive amount of spend that McDonald's has not broken out. McDonald's plans about $3 billion of baseline capital expenditure a year from 2027 to 2030, mostly for new restaurants, plus $1.5 billion to $2 billion of cumulative capital support to speed up Restaurant NEXT, and its Other revenues include franchisee fees that recover part of the cost of technology and digital platforms (FY2025 Form 10-K).
What ArchIQ costs
McDonald's estimates the full Restaurant NEXT upgrade at about $800,000 per U.S. drive-thru restaurant and $650,000 to $700,000 in its top international operated markets, on top of a standard lobby remodel of $400,000 to $450,000 that franchisees fund. McDonald's plans about $8.5 billion of rent relief and capital support through 2036, about $5 billion of it by the end of 2030 for ArchIQ technology bundles and kitchen and operations upgrades, and expects about a four-year payback for franchisees and five to six years for McDonald's (Sep 2026).
Reported ROI
McDonald's has reported no realized firm-level return on AI. McDonald's targets about 250 basis points of gross restaurant-level efficiency, about $100,000 of gross annual cash flow for an average U.S. restaurant, as NEXT is fully deployed; Chris Kempczinski said most of it is productivity from ArchIQ, supply chain and marketing combined. Ian Borden expects corporate G&A to fall from about 2.2% of systemwide sales in 2026 to about 1.9% by 2030, crediting the global technology platform, Global Business Services and AI. McDonald's China reported a 30 basis point restaurant margin gain from its RGM BOSS manager system in Dec 2023 but did not say how much of it came from AI, so McDonald's has no realized return credited to AI at any level.
Productivity and headcount
McDonald's employed more than 150,000 people at the end of 2025, about 70% outside the U.S., a count that excludes the staff of franchised restaurants; McDonald's plans to train about 2 million people across the system under its Make It Golden program. Brian Rice said Archy will free at least 50 labor hours a week per restaurant as it scales, and McDonald's told ABC News in Jun 2026 that ArchIQ is not meant to replace jobs.
Governance and risk
Disclosed AI risks
McDonald's FY2025 Form 10-K warns that the AI tools it is adding may not deliver the intended efficiencies and bring risks of operational disruption, data integrity problems and unintended consequences from algorithmic decisions. McDonald's also cites compliance duties under emerging AI rules, including U.S. state laws and the EU AI Act, as it expands personalization through AI, and AI-enabled cyberattacks and deepfakes.
Cybersecurity oversight
McDonald's Global CISO reports to Global CIO Brian Rice, runs a cybersecurity program informed by the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, and briefs the board's Audit & Finance Committee with the CIO at regular intervals, according to the FY2025 Form 10-K. A Cyber Governance, Risk & Compliance team tracks regulatory developments and oversees technology risk reporting.
Third-party AI vendors
Security researchers found in Jul 2025 that a Paradox.ai administrator account on McHire, the McDonald's hiring site, used the password 123456 and that a second flaw exposed applicants' chats with the Olivia chatbot, with as many as 64 million records reachable, according to Wired. McDonald's called it an unacceptable vulnerability from a third-party provider, said it was fixed the day it was reported, and said it would hold providers accountable to its data protection standards.
Pricing recommendations
A consumer filed a proposed nationwide class action in federal court in Chicago on Oct 2, 2026 alleging that McDonald's AI-powered pricing recommendations coordinate prices across franchised and company-owned restaurants, and a second proposed class action filed on Oct 15, 2026 also named Deloitte Consulting, McDonald's pricing consultant. McDonald's says each franchisee sets its own prices, that AI does not set the price of a Big Mac or any other item, and that a recommendation is not a mandate; the claims are unproven. Reuters reported in Sep 2026 that since Jan 2026 McDonald's business standards have expected franchisees to engage with its approved pricing consultant and tools.
Deployment gates
McDonald's deploys ArchIQ only where technology prerequisites are in place, verifies restaurant readiness before scaling, and holds each deployment to global operating and investment standards, with markets moving to the next phase once they have the capabilities to run it (Jill McDonald, Sep 2026).
AI in marketing
McDonald's Netherlands removed an AI-generated Christmas advert in Dec 2025 after social media criticism, NBC News reported; the 45-second spot was made by the U.S. production company The Sweetshop Films and the Dutch agency TBWA/Neboko.
Recent signals
Oct 15, 2026
A second proposed class action filed in federal court in Illinois named McDonald's and Deloitte Consulting, alleging that Deloitte pricing advisers relayed McDonald's menu price recommendations to operators; McDonald's says its analytical tools are optional and do not set prices.
Oct 2, 2026
A consumer filed a proposed nationwide class action in federal court in Chicago alleging that McDonald's AI-powered pricing system coordinates menu prices across its restaurants; McDonald's said AI does not set the price of a Big Mac or any other menu item.
Sep 29, 2026
Reuters reported that McDonald's machine-learning pricing engine analyzes millions of daily transactions to recommend item prices at nearly 14,000 restaurants, that Tiger Analytics runs its AI platform according to two former Tiger employees, and that operators make the final decision.
Sep 23, 2026
McDonald's set out its NEXT strategy at its Chicago investor day, with ArchIQ deploying in bundles from 2027, about $8.5 billion of franchisee support through 2036 and a target of about 250 basis points of gross restaurant-level efficiency.
Sep 23, 2026
Brian Rice said Archy takes drive-thru orders in English and Spanish with accuracy above 90%, that Google edge technology runs in thousands of restaurants across seven markets, and that the U.S. edge rollout finishes in 2027.
Sep 23, 2026
Ian Borden said AI-enabled revenue management and Archy's suggestive selling will help raise the average check and that AI will help cut corporate G&A, while Chris Kempczinski expected franchisee anxiety over the cost of upgrades.
Aug 4, 2026
Chris Kempczinski said McDonald's major markets are close to one app, one loyalty program, one pricing engine, one HR system and one finance system, with data soon pooled in a global data lake for AI; Skye Anderson became President of McDonald's USA the same day.
Jun 12, 2026
PYMNTS cited a Jun 3 post by a franchisee account saying ArchIQ had handled more than 1 million orders, about 90% of them without staff stepping in; McDonald's has not confirmed the figures.
Jun 8, 2026
ABC News reported that McDonald's had unveiled ArchIQ, a Google-powered AI ordering system in test at five U.S. restaurants, at its Worldwide Convention the week before, and that Chris Kempczinski told staff more of the customer journey is becoming automated.
Apr 2026
McDonald's named Mustafa Husain, its VP of Restaurant Technology Engineering, who led engineering for the global restaurant platform and worked on AI-enabled restaurant tools, as SVP and U.S. Chief Information Officer from May 1, 2026.
Feb 24, 2026
McDonald's FY2025 Form 10-K warned that its AI tools may not generate the intended efficiencies and cited compliance risk under the EU AI Act and U.S. state AI laws.
Feb 11, 2026
Jill McDonald said test restaurants in the Chicago area feed McDonald's work on voice ordering, shift management tools and other AI tools, and Chris Kempczinski said McDonald's was not talking much about AI in 2020 or even 2023.
Dec 10, 2025
McDonald's Netherlands told NBC News it had removed an AI-generated Christmas advert, posted to its YouTube channel days earlier, after social media criticism.
Quick answers
- How does McDonald's deploy AI?
- McDonald's deploys AI inside its restaurants: ArchIQ, a generative AI restaurant operating system built with Google, combines Archy drive-thru voice ordering, inventory tracking and equipment alerts on Google edge servers, while AI accuracy scales check orders in more than 10,000 restaurants. ArchIQ was in test at five U.S. restaurants in 2026 and deploys in bundles from 2027. McDonald's reports AI targets but no realized return credited to AI; Global CIO Brian Rice leads the technology, and Das Dasgupta was named Chief Data, Analytics and AI Officer in Sep 2025.
- What does McDonald's use AI for?
- McDonald's runs AI in production in a few narrow restaurant tools at scale (accuracy scales, demand forecasting, the menu pricing engine, China's RGM BOSS and a hiring chatbot) and is testing ArchIQ, a generative AI restaurant operating system, for deployment from 2027. McDonald's has published no realized business return credited to AI for any of these use cases: Archy's 50 freed labor hours a week is a target, Brian Rice did not call the inventory tags behind ArchIQ's labor and food waste savings AI, and McDonald's China did not say how much of RGM BOSS's 30 basis point margin gain (Dec 2023) came from AI. At the firm level McDonald's reports only targets: about 250 basis points of gross restaurant-level efficiency, which blends ArchIQ with supply chain and marketing savings, and corporate G&A of about 1.9% of systemwide sales by 2030, partly through AI.
- Who leads AI at McDonald's?
- AI at McDonald's is led by Brian Rice (EVP and Global Chief Information Officer); Das Dasgupta (SVP and Global Chief Data, Analytics and AI Officer); Jill McDonald (EVP and Global Chief Restaurant Experience Officer). Ownership of AI on the org chart: Global CIO Brian Rice; SVP Das Dasgupta, Chief Data, Analytics and AI Officer since Sep 2025.
- What AI platform does McDonald's use?
- ArchIQ is McDonald's generative AI restaurant operating system, enabled by Google edge servers and a standard restaurant data lake, combining drive-thru voice ordering, inventory tracking, equipment alerts and order accuracy scales (Sep 2026).
- Which AI models does McDonald's use?
- McDonald's has not named its models; Archy, the ArchIQ drive-thru voice agent, is developed with Google and runs on Google edge computers inside restaurants (Jun and Sep 2026), after McDonald's ended an IBM voice-ordering test in 2024.
- How many McDonald's employees use AI?
- AI accuracy scales check orders in more than 10,000 McDonald's restaurants, while ArchIQ ran in test at five U.S. restaurants in Jun 2026 and deploys in sequenced bundles from 2027 (Sep 2026).
- How far has AI spread at McDonald's?
- McDonald's has reported no business return it credits to AI, for any use case or for the company as a whole: its about 250 basis points of gross restaurant-level efficiency is a target that blends ArchIQ with supply chain and marketing savings, its plan to cut corporate G&A to about 1.9% of systemwide sales by 2030 is a target only partly credited to AI, Archy's 50 freed labor hours a week per restaurant is an expectation for when it scales (Sep 2026), and the 30 basis point margin gain McDonald's China credited to its RGM BOSS manager system (Dec 2023) is an affiliate's figure that does not separate AI from the rest of the system. McDonald's has not reported how many of its more than 150,000 employees use AI tools either: its AI in production runs in restaurants, with accuracy scales in more than 10,000 (Sep 2026), while ArchIQ was in test at five U.S. restaurants and deploys in bundles from 2027. McDonald's therefore stays at Experimenting, short of Piloting, until it reports one realized return it credits to AI, such as ArchIQ labor savings, or states how many employees use its AI tools under a named owner.
Open questions
- Which AI models run behind Archy and ArchIQ, which Google products they use, and does McDonald's use any other model provider?
- How many restaurants will run ArchIQ by the end of 2027, in which markets first, and when will Archy support languages beyond English and Spanish?
- Has anyone outside McDonald's verified Archy's accuracy above 90% and its target of 50 freed labor hours a week, and what share of the 250 basis point efficiency target comes from ArchIQ?
- What business return have McDonald's production AI tools delivered, such as accuracy scales on delivery refunds, eProduction on waste, the pricing engine on average check, or the AI features of McDonald's China's RGM BOSS on its margin?
- How much of the roughly $800,000 Restaurant NEXT investment per U.S. restaurant is AI technology rather than kitchen equipment and design?
- Does McDonald's give its more than 150,000 employees a sanctioned generative AI assistant, and how many use one?
- Whom does Chief Data, Analytics and AI Officer Das Dasgupta report to, how is AI ownership split between Dasgupta and Global CIO Brian Rice, and how many AI and data staff does McDonald's employ, including at its Hyderabad global office?
- What controls does McDonald's apply to third-party AI vendors after the Jul 2025 McHire vulnerability?
- How will the Oct 2026 pricing lawsuits affect the machine-learning pricing recommendations McDonald's gives franchisees?
- How much has McDonald's spent on technology and AI, given that Chris Kempczinski said in Sep 2026 that the spend has not been broken out?
Sources
McDonald's filings
Investor events and transcripts
Partners
Leadership news
- CFO Dive: McDonald's finance insider takes U.S. president reins (Aug 5, 2026)
- CDO Magazine: McDonald's appoints Mustafa Husain as U.S. CIO (Apr 2026)
- Nation's Restaurant News: McDonald's has created a chief data, analytics, AI officer role (Oct 3, 2025)
- CIO Dive: McDonald's names Das Dasgupta global chief data analytics and AI officer (Sep 18, 2025)
News
- CPI (PYMNTS): McDonald's, Deloitte under fire over alleged menu pricing scheme (Oct 18, 2026)
- Nation's Restaurant News: McDonald's now faces a lawsuit over its pricing recommendations (Oct 6, 2026)
- Reuters via BNN Bloomberg: McDonald's hit with US class action alleging AI-powered menu price-fixing (Oct 6, 2026)
- CPI (PYMNTS): McDonald's hit with antitrust suit over AI-assisted menu pricing (Oct 5, 2026)
- PYMNTS: McDonald's lawsuit joins legal challenges to AI pricing algorithms (Oct 8, 2026)
- Constellation Research: McDonald's strategy bets on AI, digital capabilities (Oct 2, 2026)
- Reuters via The Star: Inside McDonald's push to have AI price your Big Mac (Sep 29, 2026)
- PYMNTS: McDonald's puts AI in charge of the drive-thru (Sep 29, 2026)
- Restaurant Technology News: McDonald's commits $8.5 billion as ArchIQ moves AI into operations (Sep 23, 2026)
- CNBC: McDonald's unveils plan to spend big on restaurant upgrades (Sep 23, 2026)
- PYMNTS: McDonald's fired its AI, now it's back with Google's (Jun 12, 2026)
- AI News: McDonald's tests Google-backed AI drive-thru ordering system (Jun 10, 2026)
- ABC News: McDonald's testing new AI ordering technology at drive-thrus (Jun 8, 2026)
- NBC News: McDonald's pulls AI-generated Christmas advert after backlash (Dec 11, 2025)
- Reuters via KSL: McDonald's plans to double down on AI investment by 2027 (Aug 2, 2025)
- Wired: McDonald's AI hiring bot exposed applicants' data (Jul 9, 2025)
- CNBC: McDonald's to end IBM AI drive-thru test (Jun 17, 2024)
Data confidence
- Confirmed
- Stated in a primary or reputable public source.
- Estimated
- Derived or approximated from public reporting.
- Unconfirmed
- Reported, but not yet corroborated.
McDonald's profile · Enterprise AI diffusion report by Imagine · facts checked against their sources on Nov 1, 2026
