Currently, it’s always an employee on the other end of the line when you place an order in the drive-thru at McDonald’s. Soon, it could be a chatbot.
McDonald’s plans to have AI take orders in restaurants over time. Although a test run at more than 100 locations of the fast-food chain in the USA is coming to an end after about two years, as reported by the trade publication “Restaurant Business” based on a communication to the local restaurants, McDonald’s made it clear that this step, tested in collaboration with the computer company IBM, is not the end.
AI is suitable for taking orders
Based on the test experiences, the company is convinced “that a solution for voice orders in the drive-thru will be part of the future of our restaurants,” emphasized the US company in a statement to “Restaurant Business.” Various options are now being examined, and McDonald’s aims to decide on a technical solution by the end of the year.
Software with artificial intelligence is increasingly improving in conducting conversations with humans. Especially for orders in some restaurants, voice recognition is ideal, as it should be sufficient to handle a manageable vocabulary. So-called generative AI – as used in the chatbot ChatGPT – can also formulate sentences at a human linguistic level.
In December, McDonald’s also entered into a partnership with Google focused on the use of generative AI, although the details of the deal initially remained unclear. US competitors such as fast-food chains Wendy’s and Carl’s Jr. are also experimenting with the automated acceptance of spoken orders. It remains to be seen how quickly such solutions could be applied outside the USA, as AI software is usually initially developed for English.
