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Applied AI·September 29, 2026·1 min read

Chinese Models Are a Big ‘Wrinkle’ for US AI Firms, Gensler Says

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Competition from Chinese models plus looming guardrails means US AI firms are being squeezed from both sides—global price/performance pressure and domestic compliance overhead. For buyers, this increases the odds of regulatory-driven vendor concentration and makes jurisdictional risk a first-order factor in model selection.

Applied AI

Investigation: McDonald's is utilizing an AI pricing engine across nearly 14,000 restaurants to generate location-specific "optimal prices" for menu items

AI-driven dynamic pricing at McDonald’s scale means algorithmic price discrimination is now mainstream retail infrastructure, not a pilot. Any consumer brand with distributed locations should be modeling how localized “optimal prices” will hit demand elasticity, brand trust, and regulatory scrutiny over the next 12–24 months.