100 McDonald’s Drive-Thrus Ditched AI Ordering: Robots Fired?
McDonald’s paused trials of AI drive-thru ordering due to glitches, with funny customer experiences going viral. While the tech is on hold, the company still sees voice ordering in its future.
CONTENTS: 100 McDonald’s Drive-Thrus Ditched AI Ordering
- McDonald’s pauses AI drive-thru test
- AI struggles in fast food drive-thrus
- McDs uses AI for employee training
McDonald’s pauses AI drive-thru test
100 McDonald’s Drive-Thrus Ditched AI Ordering
McDonald’s is discontinuing its trial of AI chatbots at drive-thrus in over 100 US locations. The technology, featuring AI voices taking customer orders, was part of a partnership with IBM since 2021. While McDonald’s hasn’t publicly explained the decision, it plans to deactivate the AI systems by July 26. The company stated it would reassess automated ordering by year-end but affirmed that voice-ordering solutions remain part of its future restaurant plans.
The fast-food industry, including chains like Wendy’s, Hardee’s, Carl’s Jr., and Del Taco, has increasingly adopted AI for drive-thru operations. Yum Brands, owner of Taco Bell and KFC, also recently emphasized an “AI-first mentality” in its restaurants.
AI struggles in fast food drive-thrus
The fast-food industry increasingly turns to AI to replace human workers amid rising labor costs, spurred by new mandatory minimum wage laws in places like California. While companies promote AI as the future of the industry, these technologies have faced criticism and widespread attention for errors. Viral TikTok videos and media reports have highlighted instances where AI systems at McDonald’s drive-thrus mistakenly added items like butter packets or inflated order quantities, leading to customer frustration and amusement.
Moreover, automated systems have been scrutinized for their reliance on outsourced human labor to handle customer interactions. Presto Automation Inc., a provider of AI services to fast-food chains, disclosed in a recent SEC filing that personnel from countries such as the Philippines are involved in customer interactions about 70% of the time.
McDs uses AI for employee training
Apart from integrating AI into drive-thru operations, several companies are exploring its application in developing digital chatbots for their apps and using image recognition to estimate wait times.
McDonald’s partnered with Google in December last year to develop a chatbot named “Ask Pickles,” designed to train employees on tasks like restaurant equipment cleaning. The collaboration also aimed to explore additional possibilities for generative AI, as reported by Bloomberg.
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