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McD's Major A.I. Expansion
& AI Discovers 5 New Materials for Better Batteries
McDonald’s Bets Big on AI — With India at the Center
McDonald’s will make India a key hub as it ramps up AI capabilities by 2027, focusing on data governance and engineering. Its order‑verification AI, already in 400 Indian outlets, will roll out globally within two years to cut errors and boost customer satisfaction.
AI on the Menu
From predictive fryer maintenance to menu recommendations powered by 120+ data points, McDonald’s AI adapts offers in real time — even pushing beef when chicken is low. These tools run across 43,000 restaurants, improving efficiency and reducing waste.
Bigger Loyalty, Bigger Savings
The chain aims to grow loyalty members from 175M to 250M by 2027, with AI‑driven promos seeing 2× higher uptake. The global push could save $500M in operations, with India steering much of the innovation.
BNPL Insanity: When Botox and Concerts Become Debt Traps
BNPL use is exploding for non-essentials—23% of Americans used it for concerts, including 37% of Gen Z and 35% of millennials; 60% of Coachella-goers paid in installments. Average BNPL debt hovers under $1,000, but some rack up several thousand.
Credit risk is rising: Klarna’s credit losses jumped 17%, delinquencies hit 0.54%, and FICO will soon factor BNPL into scores. The ease of approval fuels impulse buys—turning “interest-free” into debt traps.
Even Botox isn’t immune: treatments, vacations, and luxury buys now make up a growing share of BNPL spending, with lenders quietly tightening terms to curb losses.
AI Finds 5 New Battery Materials in Hours
Researchers at NJIT used generative AI to identify five porous transition metal oxides that could power multivalent‑ion batteries using abundant metals like magnesium, calcium, aluminum, and zinc — offering a sustainable alternative to lithium. These batteries could store more energy by using ions with two or three positive charges instead of one.
Faster, Smarter Discovery
The team combined a Crystal Diffusion Variational Autoencoder with a fine‑tuned LLM to scan thousands of crystal structures, pinpointing those closest to thermodynamic stability. This AI‑driven process cut the discovery timeline from years to hours, a leap that would have been impossible with traditional lab testing.
Towards Commercial Reality
Simulations confirmed the materials’ large, open channels make them ideal for moving bulky multivalent ions quickly and safely. Next up: synthesis and real‑world testing, paving the way for longer‑lasting, greener batteries — and a new model for AI‑powered materials science.