GoKawiil
Tech News
A new report examines the hidden ways artificial intelligence technology is increasing everyday expenses for consumers, even those who don't pay for AI subscriptions. The analysis points to indirect costs passed on through businesses that have adopted AI tools.
Google has launched Gemini Argon 4 for users worldwide. The model is available only through paid tiers, with no free version offered to consumers or developers.
According to a Reuters investigation, McDonald's is using machine learning models that analyze millions of daily transactions to generate an 'optimal price' for menu items at nearly 14,000 US restaurants. Reuters found a Big Mac priced at $5.69 at one Fresno location and $6.89 at another just two miles away, a 21 percent difference, with three franchisees saying the AI tool has widened price gaps between nearby stores.
Walmart has publicly denied that its digital shelf labels and newly patented dynamic AI pricing technology will charge customers differently based on personal data, with CEO John Furner stating income, shopping history or urgency won't affect prices. McDonald's has separately faced media scrutiny over AI systems tied to price variation across locations, calling the coverage 'speculative and misinformed.' Both companies' practices are drawing attention amid broader debate over surveillance pricing involving lawmakers and the FTC.
Reuters reports that McDonald's has used an AI pricing tool since 2019 that analyzes transaction data from nearly 14,000 restaurants plus competitor pricing, such as Wendy's online menus, to recommend menu prices based on local customers' willingness to pay. Franchise owners told Reuters the system has produced price gaps of over 20% between nearby stores, and that the company calls franchisees to question deviations from recommended prices, despite stating that following the algorithm is optional.
Research firm Epoch AI reports that the cost of achieving a fixed level of AI performance on the GPQA Diamond benchmark has dropped nearly 50% per quarter, or about 13-fold annually. The firm found OpenAI's GPT o3, released January 2025, cost $0.30 per question to hit a 75% score, while GPT-5.6 Luna later matched that score for $0.0004 per question. Epoch says this decline outpaces historical cost curves for lithium-ion batteries, DNA sequencing, and computing hardware.
AI research firm Epoch AI has published a report finding that the cost of running AI models has dropped by thousands of times over the past several years, at a pace it calculates as nearly 50% cheaper per quarter and 13 times cheaper annually. The firm says this rate of decline outpaces historical cost drops in lithium batteries, DNA sequencing, and computing power under Moore's Law.
McDonald's is using an AI-driven pricing platform that suggests menu prices for individual franchise locations based on local customers' willingness to pay, according to Reuters. The system tracks whether franchisees deviate from its recommendations, and researchers found a Big Mac priced 21% higher at one Fresno store than another just two miles away. McDonald's says the tool offers recommendations rather than mandates and called the reporting 'speculative and uninformed.'
A new book and recent reports describe how companies are using vast troves of consumer data combined with AI to calculate individualized prices for online shoppers, rather than setting prices based on product cost or general market value. The pricing can vary from person to person depending on data profiles rather than the item itself.
OpenAI and Anthropic each released new AI models on the same day, continuing a pattern of frequent announcements. Much of this apparent acceleration reflects companies repackaging capabilities from earlier flagship models into new versions at different price points, rather than pure leaps in underlying capability.