McDonald’s is ditching its AI ordering system after too many customers wound up with hilarious, wonky orders from the artificial intelligence tech.
The fast food giant, which had been testing voice-automated ordering systems at around 100 restaurant drive-thrus since 2021, is now booting it from the menu. It seems to be because AI, at least when it comes to taking orders as people shout them from their car windows, turns out not to be a very good listener.
The systems’ miscalculations have led to some highly amusing viral videos with absurdly incorrect orders—like a handful of butter, hundreds of chicken nuggets, and ice cream loaded with bacon.
Restaurant Business was first to report the news that the chain would ditch AI and go back to real drive-thru workers in all of its restaurants.
“After a thoughtful review, McDonald’s has decided to end our current partnership with IBM on AOT and the technology will be shut off in all restaurants currently testing it no later than July 26, 2024,” Mason Smoot, chief restaurant officer for McDonald’s USA, said in an email obtained by Restaurant Business.
“While there have been successes to date, we feel there is an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly,” Smoot explained.
While the company is no longer working with IBM on the new tech, the email asserted that the corporation “remains a trusted partner” that McDonald’s “will still utilize,” while also seeking other partnerships in its future AI ventures.
The tech won’t be gone from the fast food giant’s restaurants forever, but the company says it will wait until competitors bring in AI, too.
However, lots of other chains are already using AI more broadly. Checkers, Hardee’s, Wendy’s, Dunkin, and Taco Bell have tested AI technology in drive-thrus, while some have fully implemented it.
Wendy’s has begun using AI to adapt their menu, too, by implementing AI menu changes and suggestive selling based on things like the weather. Not only will it suggest items based on the weather, but the AI-driven menu could also change prices of more in-demand items—like boosting the price of ice cream on a hot day.
Chains have high hopes about AI, but the ordering systems haven’t been as smooth or accurate as customers would hope. It’s leading to a lot of grief in the drive-thru lane, which makes fast food a little less fast. Hopefully, the tech giants can work out the kinks—and fast—because absolutely nobody wants butter in place of a Big Mac. There are some things the robots just don’t understand.
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