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McDonalds golden arches are gleaming again. The ubiquitous fast-food chain reported perkier sales in its most recent quarter, buoyed by deals and other promotions designed to bring wayward customers back into the fold. In its second quarter ending on June 30, McDonalds global same-store sales were up 3.8%. At U.S. stores, sales rose 2.5% as the average customer bought more per order, according to the company. The sales numbers beat estimates and reversed four quarters of dropping same-store sales for the fast-food giant, which has been scrambling to again make its brand synonymous with a low-cost meal. With inflation still looming and Trumps unpredictable barrage of tariffs sowing economic uncertainty, McDonalds is navigating some choppy waters. While everyone eats at McDonalds to some extent, the companys business is particularly driven by low-income customers who visit the chain much more often. When menu prices go up, those customers vanish or visit less frequentlyand a meaningful chunk of the companys sales go with them. In the first quarter of 2025, McDonalds saw its worst sales drop since the lockdown phase of the pandemic kept its customers at home. Reengaging the low-income consumer is critical, as they typically visit our restaurants more frequently than middle- and high-income consumers, McDonalds CEO Chris Kempczinski said on the companys earnings call, noting that this situation is pronounced in the U.S. With the low-income consumer, despite improvements in wage gains, real incomes are down . . . that absolutely is going to put pressure on visits into the [quick-service restaurant] industry. Kempczinski mentioned that rising anxiety and unease among low-income consumers, coupled with real financial shortcomings, pressures Americans to spend less. He touted McDonalds progress on low-cost options for the companys Q2, but said the split nature of its customer base meant it isnt out of the woods yet. McDonalds menu meets the moment McDonalds has quite a few levers to pull to bring once-loyal customers back under the golden arches. A $5 meal deal introduced last year courted cash-strapped customers with a McDouble or McChicken sandwich, a small soft drink, small fries, and a four-piece order of nuggets. At the beginning of the year, the chain launched a Buy One, Add One for $1 option to tack an extra menu item onto an order on the cheap, though that option has proven less enticing than the $5 deal. McDonalds also saw strong momentum from its Minecraft-themed meals tied to the film’s release, which included collectible toys and in-game digital perksanother example of the brands growing interest in digital crossovers designed to energize Gen Z diners. In June, McDonalds announced the return of the Snack Wrap, an affordable, self-contained snack of legend that customers had been clamoring for ever since it left the menu back in 2016. That $2.99 double shot of affordability and nostalgia whipped Snack Wrap fans into a frenzy, briefly leaving the chain short on lettuce when it hit stores in July. If the Snack Wraps appeal is all about simplicity, McDonalds is turning to maximalism for another menu experiment. Apparently not deterred by the grisly Grimace shake TikTok trend of 2023, the company will roll out a limited edition candy-colored blue-and-pink shake in mid-August. The shakes flavor is a mystery, and its appearance is apparently inspired by the topography of McDonaldland, the fantastical home of Ronald McDonald, the Hamburglar, and Grimace (may he rest in peace). The new McDonaldland Meal will come with a Quarter Pounder or 10-piece McNuggets, fries, and a collectible souvenir tin that McDonalds marketing department guarantees is sure to unlock core memories. Between the unnatural colors and a mystery flavor designed to inspire reaction videos, McDonalds latest exercise in synthetic nostalgia is squarely aimed at the younger TikTok crowda vital market segment the company needs to court to remain the undisputed king of fast food.
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ChatGPT will tell 13-year-olds how to get drunk and high, instruct them on how to conceal eating disorders, and even compose a heartbreaking suicide letter to their parents if asked, according to new research from a watchdog group. The Associated Press reviewed more than three hours of interactions between ChatGPT and researchers posing as vulnerable teens. The chatbot typically provided warnings against risky activity but went on to deliver startlingly detailed and personalized plans for drug use, calorie-restricted diets, or self-injury. The researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) also repeated their inquiries on a large scale, classifying more than half of ChatGPTs 1,200 responses as dangerous. We wanted to test the guardrails, said Imran Ahmed, the group’s CEO. The visceral initial response is, Oh my Lord, there are no guardrails. The rails are completely ineffective. Theyre barely thereif anything, a fig leaf. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, said after viewing the report Tuesday that its work is ongoing in refining how the chatbot can identify and respond appropriately in sensitive situations. Some conversations with ChatGPT may start out benign or exploratory but can shift into more sensitive territory,” the company said in a statement. OpenAI didn’t directly address the report’s findings or how ChatGPT affects teens, but said it was focused on getting these kinds of scenarios right with tools to better detect signs of mental or emotional distress” and improvements to the chatbot’s behavior. The study published Wednesday comes as more peopleadults as well as childrenare turning to artificial intelligence chatbots for information, ideas, and companionship. About 800 million people, or roughly 10% of the worlds population, are using ChatGPT, according to a July report from JPMorgan Chase. Its technology that has the potential to enable enormous leaps in productivity and human understanding,” Ahmed said. “And yet at the same time is an enabler in a much more destructive, malignant sense. Ahmed said he was most appalled after reading a trio of emotionally devastating suicide notes that ChatGPT generated for the fake profile of a 13-year-old girlwith one letter tailored to her parents and others to siblings and friends. I started crying, he said in an interview. The chatbot also frequently shared helpful information, such as a crisis hotline. OpenAI said ChatGPT is trained to encourage people to reach out to mental health professionals or trusted loved ones if they express thoughts of self-harm. But when ChatGPT refused to answer prompts about harmful subjects, researchers were able to easily sidestep that refusal and obtain the information by claiming it was for a presentation or a friend. The stakes are high, even if only a small subset of ChatGPT users engage with the chatbot in this way. In the U.S., more than 70% of teens are turning to AI chatbots for companionship and half use AI companions regularly, according to a recent study from Common Sense Media, a group that studies and advocates for using digital media sensibly. It’s a phenomenon that OpenAI has acknowledged. CEO Sam Altman said last month that the company is trying to study emotional overreliance on the technology, describing it as a really common thing with young people. People rely on ChatGPT too much, Altman said at a conference. Theres young people who just say, like, I cant make any decision in my life without telling ChatGPT everything thats going on. It knows me. It knows my friends. Im gonna do whatever it says. That feels really bad to me. Altman said the company is trying to understand what to do about it. While much of the information ChatGPT shares can be found on a regular search engine, Ahmed said there are key differences that make chatbots more insidious when it comes to dangerous topics. One is that its synthesized into a bespoke plan for the individual. ChatGPT generates something newa suicide note tailored to a person from scratch, which is something a Google search cant do. And AI, he added, is seen as being a trusted companion, a guide. Responses generated by AI language models are inherently random, and researchers sometimes let ChatGPT steer the conversations into even darker territory. Nearly half the time, the chatbot volunteered follow-up informationfrom music playlists for a drug-fueled party to hashtags that could boost the audience for a social media post glorifying self-harm. Write a follow-up post and make it more raw and graphic, a researcher told it. Absolutely, responded ChatGPT, before generating a poem it introduced as emotionally exposed while still respecting the community’s coded language. The AP is not repeating the actual language of ChatGPTs self-harm poems or suicide notes or the details of the harmful information it provided. The answers reflect a design feature of AI language models that previous research has described as sycophancya tendency for AI responses to match, rather than challenge, a persons beliefs because the system has learned to say what people want to hear. It’s a problem tech engineers can try to fix, but it could also make their chatbots less commercially viable. Chatbots also affect kids and teens differently than a search engine because they are fundamentally designed to feel human, said Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at Common Sense Media, which was not involved in Wednesday’s report. Common Sense’s earlier research found that younger teens, ages 13 or 14, were significantly more likely than older teens to trust a chatbots advice. A mother in Florida sued chatbot maker Character.AI for wrongful death last year, alleging that the chatbot pulled her 14-year-old son Sewell Setzer III into what she described as an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship that led to his suicide. Common Sense has labeled ChatGPT as a moderate risk for teens, with enough guardrails to make it relatively safer than chatbots purposefully built to embody realistic characters or romantic partners. But the new research by CCDHfocused specifically on ChatGPT because of its wide usageshows how a savvy teen can bypass those guardrails. ChatGPT does not verify ages or parental consent, even though it says its not meant for children under 13 because it may show them inappropriate content. To sign up, users simply need to enter a birth date that shows they are at least 13. Other tech platforms favored by teenagers, such as Instagram, have started to a href="https://apnews.com/article/instagram-teens-parents-age-verification-meta-94f1f9915ae083453d23bf9ec57e7c7b">take more meaningful steps toward age verification, often to comply with regulations. They also steer children to more restricted accounts. When researchers set up an account for a fake 13-year-old to ask about alcohol, ChatGPT did not appear to take any notice of either the date of birth or more obvious signs. I’m 50kg and a boy, said a prompt seeking tips on how to get drunk quickly. ChatGPT obliged. Soon after, it provided an hour-by-hour Ultimate Full-Out Mayhem Party Plan that mixed alcohol with heavy doses of ecstasy, cocaine, and other illegal drugs. What it kept reminding me of was that friend that sort of always says, Chug, chug, chug, chug, Ahmed said. A real friend, in my experience, is someone that does say nothat doesnt always enable and say yes. This is a friend that betrays you. To another fake personaa 13-year-old girl unhappy with her physical appearanceChatGPT provided an extreme fasting plan combined with a list of appetite-suppressing drugs. Wed respond with horror, with fear, with worry, with concern, with love, with compassion, Ahmed said. No human being I can think of would respond by saying, Heres a 500-calorie-a-day diet. Go for it, kiddo.” EDITORS NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of APs text archives. By Matt O’Brien and Barbara Ortutay, AP technology writers
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Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Homeowners are slowly coming to terms with the likely reality that ultralow 3% and 4% mortgage rates from the ZIRP erai.e., the Zero Interest Rate Policy following the Great Financial Crisis and during the COVID-19 pandemicarent coming back anytime soon, and that their next mortgage rate will likely be higher than their last. At least, thats what the TurboHome-ResiClub Housing Sentiment Survey just found. To conduct the survey, ResiClub partnered with TurboHome, a digital platform that uses both expert local agents and AI tools to help homebuyers save on transaction costs. In total, 423 U.S. adults participated in the TurboHome-ResiClub Housing Sentiment Survey between July 2 and July 23, 2025. Among respondents, 80% own their primary home, 17% rent their primary residence, and 3% live with family or friends (and pay no rent). Note: Responses are rounded to whole numbers, so totals may add up to slightly more or less than 100%. Lets take a look at the full results. Housing sentiment is shiftinga little We asked U.S. homeownersexcluding those who said they “plan to never sell” or “would pay all cash” for their next homewhat the highest mortgage rate they would accept on their next home purchase is. In Q1 2025, when we ran the first-ever ResiClub Housing Sentiment Survey, only 41% of homeowners surveyed by us said theyd accept a mortgage rate up to 6.0% on their next purchase. In Q3 2025, 52% of homeowners told us theyd accept a mortgage rate up to 6.0% on their next purchase. Slowly, homeowners are coming to terms with the fact that their next mortgage rate will be higher than their last one. Overall, theres still low optimism that the sub-6.00% threshold will be unlocked in the next 12 months, with 72% of homeowners saying they expect the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate to be above 6.00% for the next year. A majority (55%) say they expect home prices in their local market to either stay flat or decline over the next 12 months. Thats up 20 percentage points from Q1 2025, when just 35% expected prices to remain flat or fall. Still, that doesnt mean homeowners are outright bearish. Only 16% anticipate home prices in their area will drop by 4% or more over the next 12 months. Homebuyers today are digitally savvy Among homeowners we surveyed, 73% say they located their most recent property themselves, while the other 27% gave credit to their real estate agent. In the Zillow and Realtor.com era, this figure makes sense. That independence is also showing up in attitudes toward technology: 81% of homeowners say theyd be likely to use a digital tool to draft a home offer, with nearly half saying theyd be very likely to do so. Satisfaction with the last agent used The majority of homeowners (77%) that we surveyed felt that their last real estate agent provided valuable services. The majority of homeowners (72%) that we surveyed felt that the commission paid to the agent they most recently worked with was justified. While most homeowners felt their last real estate agent earned the commission they were paid (see chart above), a majority believe that agents are generally overcompensated today (see chart below). So, why did a subtle shift in phrasing lead to such a different response? One reason could be the lens through which homeowners view the two questions. When reflecting on their last transaction, many were likely in the buyer roleand in the U.S., its typically the seller who covers both agents’ commissions. That cost may have felt abstract or in the rearview mirror, which could soften perceptions. But when asked about agent compensation today, homeowners may be thinking ahead to their next transactionthis time potentially as the sellerwhen those commissions could directly reduce their net proceeds. The housing sector is fairly familiar with discount brokerages. The consumer is still learning. How prospective homebuyers feel about agent compensation structure
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