McDonalds Pauses Drive-Thru AI Chatbot Test

Can Fast-Food Drive-Thru AI Become Mainstream?

At Bojangles, a drive-thru voice bot called Bo-Linda has allowed the chain to cut some hours, which helps the chain cover the costs of the technology, said CIO Richard Del Valle. But, “a lot of the hours we’re shaving out of the system are Fantasy Employee No. 2 that we don’t have in the first place,” he said. The chain isworking on embedding conversational AI in the channels, she said. Yelp launched its AI-powered assistant to connect you better with different businesses — think movers, home cleaning, contractors, etc. Now, the company allows you to include an option to let services pros contact you through text or phone calls. For user privacy, Yelp will mask your phone number when pros call you for a project.

The technology is currently being introduced at restaurants in a phased approach that’s expected to be complete by the end of October. The fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain said Tuesday that it is partnering with Paradox, a maker of what the technology company calls “conversational” AI, to launch the new hiring platform. With AI being used in ordering systems, data can be collected to see what menu items are trending. This allows for inventory to be monitored to ensure that the most popular items are readily available. With AI understanding these trends, employees are not overworked and left burnt out by the end of a shift, as restaurants will know how many people should be on shift to meet busy times. As well as accurately recording customers’ orders, they are able to make recommendations and answer questions.

Far-out pizza toppings and beefy limited-time offers

According to statements made to Restaurant Business, the company conducted tests to assess if the chatbots could enhance service speed and streamline operations. While automated systems have faced backlash for misunderstanding customer orders, some have also come under scrutiny for relying on outsourced human labor to make them run. The fast-food industry’s growing affinity for AI comes as companies see the technology as a means of replacing human workers to reduce rising labor costs. After California passed a new mandatory minimum wage law for fast-food workers, businesses rushed towards implementing AI technologies that could perform tasks such as taking customer orders.

• I’ll share a bit on the evolution of the company and maybe that’ll give you some perspective on that question.
• I remember one of our customers in the Boston area, they were launching online ordering and they wanted to run a promotion to get the word out.
• McDonald’s is scrapping a trial of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted ordering at select drive-through restaurants after videos of order mix-ups went viral online.
• McDonald’s drive-thru AI initiative is just a part of its broader strategy to automate tasks traditionally handled by humans.
• More than 20 large scale brands covering thousands of locations use this technology, including Jersey Mike’s, Papa Johns, Casey’s, and Chipotle.
• An IBM spokesperson told the publication that it is negotiating with other fast food companies about implementing its AI-powered technology.

While companies have touted AI as the future of the fast-food industry, these technologies have also resulted in viral videos and media coverage documenting when they get orders wrong. McDonald’s drive-thru AI failures circulated on TikTok last year after several videos purported to show the system adding erroneous items like butter packets or multiplying how many items were ordered. When it comes to user-facing features, the company is now highlighting reviews in different categories, including food quality, service, and ambiance. Each of these categories has a sentiment score of 1 to 100, with ratings including positive, neutral, and critical. When you tap on any of these categories for a listing, you will see relevant reviews highlighted on the app. Yelp is currently adding these AI-powered insights for restaurant, food, and nightlife businesses on iOS.

McDonald’s wants to let AI take orders at restaurants in future

White Castle has been trialing AI solutions from SoundHound, while Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s, and others have implemented an AI-driven drive-thru chatbot system. According to an SEC filing, this system heavily involves remote human workers located in the Philippines. After partnering with IBM in 2021 to implement voice-ordering chatbots in more than 100 restaurants, the fast-food giant plans to remove this technology.

The ReachifyAI bot concierge services offers AI-powered voice ordering by phone or text-to-order. We believe we have to innovate on behalf of restaurants, so we’re certainly tracking all the trends very closely. There might be times when you just want to leave or have your water refilled. To assist restaurants in this transition, Zomato is offering discounted photoshoot services to its partners.

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However, Ranjan added that AI will continue to play an important role for cataloguing for food as well as quick commerce business. Ranjan said that the problem of AI-generated images is not that widespread and the company aims to crackdown on it in the starting stages only.

He was also an “intrapreneur” at Endeca, helping to lead the Special Operations team that was instrumental in launching Endeca’s business intelligence platform and founding the Endeca mobile commerce business. “As we move forward, our work with IBM has given us the confidence that a voice ordering solution for drive-thru will be part of our restaurants’ future,” the statement reads. “We see tremendous opportunity in advancing our restaurant technology and will continue to evaluate long-term, scalable solutions that will help us make an informed decision on a future voice ordering solution by the end of the year.” Argo Labs is a New York-based startup that has developed what it calls a “voice-to-voice AI” software tailored for the restaurant industry. “Our AI receptionist is designed to intelligently handle customer interactions over the phone, providing a seamless and personalized experience that enhances customer satisfaction and streamlines restaurant operations,” the company said.

The app will also start letting you search for locations with descriptive prompts as well as display AI-summarized reviews.

The posts get thousands of likes and comments from people who have no idea,” she wrote. Ethos, an entirely AI-generated restaurant that only exists on social media pages and a website, went viral the other day when Andreessen Horowitz’s partner Justine Moore posted about the would-be Austin restaurant. So-called generative AI – such as that used in the chatbot ChatGPT – can formulate sentences at the linguistic level of a human. Although IBM will no longer be relied on for AI drive-thrus, the two companies still apparently have business ties for other parts of McDonald’s operations. Errors include telling landlords they can lock out tenants and ignore income sources like Section 8 vouchers, despite these actions being illegal in New York City. The chatbot’s inaccuracies extend to other areas, wrongly informing businesses they can operate without accepting cash and misguiding them on worker tip regulations.

More than 20 large scale brands covering thousands of locations use this technology, including Jersey Mike’s, Papa Johns, Casey’s, and Chipotle. In December, SoundHound AI merged with SYNQ3 Restaurant Solutions, a leading provider of voice AI. The deal made SoundHound AI one of the country’s leading providers of voice AI for restaurants. Aniai’s Alpha Grill was a recipient of the show’s famed Kitchen Innovations award last year. The semi-autonomous burger grill simultaneously cooks both sides of a hamburger patty. The South Korean company Aniai returned to the show this year and nabbed another kitchen innovation award for its use of advanced AI and robotics.

This year, the company nabbed a 2024 Kitchen Innovations award for its new OrderHQ Exterior Smart Food Locker Solution. The lockers are designed for exterior use, moving the pickup of takeout and delivery orders outside the restaurant. Ashley McNamara, vice president of global marketing, said the weather-proofed exterior lockers maintain the same temperature as the restaurant, which ensures meals are fresh when picked up by drivers or customers.

Good News: AI program provides new insights into the movements of humpback whales

Other fast-food chains, including Chipotle, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, are testing bots in their kitchens and at cash registers to save on labor costs. Chipotle has opened at least 500 digital drive-thru”Chipotlane” restaurants since 2018. It has also tested AI in kitchens with “Chippy,” a robotic kitchen assistant that can make tortilla chips. Artificial intelligence (AI) is an astounding technology that is continuously and exponentially evolving. Both companies and individuals are learning AI’s real-world applications, and many believe that we are only in the early stages of a transformative shift in how it impacts all aspects of the business and consumer landscape. In the restaurant sector, AI has emerged as a powerful force that is fundamentally altering the industry, as it impacts operations, customer experiences and overall business models from the front to the back of house.

The letter reportedly offers very little explanation for why the program is ending. The chatbot, powered by Microsoft’s Azure AI, was expected to be a reliable source for navigating city regulations and avoiding penalties. However, its failure to provide correct information has raised concerns about its impact on small business compliance and legal standing. One offshoot of the AI conversation related to how to secure the data being processed and generated by AI.

Bringing that to life at scale with data, I think, is something that’s very much possible. The restaurant industry went through one of its most tumultuous periods in years when Covid hit, with millions of jobs suddenly lost, followed by a worker shortage when the economy recovered. Enjoy personalized recommendations, ad-lite browsing, and access to our exclusive newsletters. Join our exclusive community of 10,000+ founders, investors & operators and stay ahead in india’s startup & business economy. According to Goyal, the use of AI to generate dish images led to numerous customer complaints.

• In South Korea, one of the company’s largest customers is burger franchise Lotteria, which has 1,300 locations.
• Forecasting and reducing food waste for a better world According to the USDA, over one-third of all available food goes uneaten.
• The company also introduced some of these features to its Yelp Fusion API.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) is on the rise in applications across industries, and Gartner finds that 79% of company strategists believe AI will be critical to their success over the next two years.
• Mason Smoot, McDonald’s USA chief restaurant officer, acknowledged some successes but emphasized the need for broader exploration of AI solutions.

Previously, a single remote cashier could only take orders for one restaurant. The upgraded software, which debuted at the show’s “Startup Alley” section, allows one remote cashier to take orders for multiple restaurants. Whatever McDonald’s does with drive-thru AI, that’s only part of the story when it comes to its efforts to automate previously human-performed tasks. The company also offers things like mobile ordering and in-store kiosks and has tested drone deliveries, kitchen robots, and weird AI hiring tools.

In that case, maybe McDonald’s made its decision because it feels it can get better or cheaper voice recognition tech from another source. While McDonald’s is reevaluating and refining its plans for AOT, we look forward to continuing to work with them on a variety of other projects,” the company continued. Alternatively, AI can be used to suggest different menu items to customers based on their most frequent orders. Especially during an economically pressured period, offering these deals would improve customers’ experiences with the restaurant and entice them to continue coming back. Additionally, as it is a more seamless system, there is less room for human error. Customers’ experiences at fast food restaurants will be improved if they don’t have to deal with frustrating inconveniences such as slow orders when they’re in a rush or getting the wrong meal.

Meet TasteGPT, Tastewise’s AI chatbot helping companies predict the latest food trends – IngredientsNetwork.com

Meet TasteGPT, Tastewise’s AI chatbot helping companies predict the latest food trends.

Posted: Fri, 07 Jun 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

“This morning I tried to go to McDonald’s and get my daily dose of caffeine, and some breakfast. I was going to get a hash brown, a sweet tea and a coke,” she said. “At this McDonald’s, it’s all robot. We’re talking to a robot, there’s no person on the speaker.” A surprisingly common topic at the conference was the art and science of naming an AI chatbot. Although AI can expedite the hiring process, it can also be controversial as a recruiting tool.