The fast food giant has been testing an AI ordering system, developed by IBM, at more than 100 of its US locations since 2021. The technology uses voice recognition to process orders, but has sometimes had trouble getting it right.
Errors have emerged with customer orders on social media – one customer received an ice cream topped with bacon and the technology added £166 worth of chicken nuggets to another customer’s order.
In a video posted on the social media channel TikTok called ‘Fighting with McDonald’s robot’, a woman struggles to order vanilla ice cream and a bottle of water from the artificial intelligence assistant and is instead given several ice cream cones, ketchup sachets and two portions. of butter.
McDonald’s has instructed its franchisees to remove the technology by the end of July as it has decided not to extend the contract.
“While there have been successes to date, we believe there is an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly,” the company says.
“After careful review, McDonald’s has decided to end our current partnership with IBM on AOT (automated order taking) and the technology will be shut down in all restaurants currently testing it no later than July 26, 2024.”
McDonald’s has been a leader in the use of technology in the QSR sector. The group has introduced self-service kiosks throughout its property in recent years and has remodeled many of its restaurants to eliminate the traditional counter service option entirely. It has also seen strong growth in sales using its drive-thru service in the UK.
The company says it is confident that artificial intelligence technology will continue to be part of its future.
AI adoption
News of McDonald’s AI testing will no doubt be food for thought for American fried chicken brand Popeyes, which earlier this month launched its first AI-powered drive-thru restaurantin the United Kingdom after the successful trials of its Northampton restaurant.
The company is expanding the trial to two more drive-thru locations in Cardiff and Rotherham this month and says it plans to expand the technology to all of its current Popeyes drive-thru sites in the UK by July.
The technology takes customer orders and can answer questions about what ingredients are included in a given item and answer queries such as “what sauces are available?” During the test, you learned how to recommend meal combinations based on customer preferences and explain what’s in each product, and you’ll be able to pick up and adapt to modifications or difficult questions as more orders are processed.
“We believe this technology has the power to revolutionize the self-service experience and we are particularly proud to be the first quick service restaurant in the UK to offer a voice AI solution in this way,” says David Carey. , chief technology officer at Popeyes.
“We have worked closely with our Northampton restaurant to easily integrate the technology and are already starting to see the benefits that drive-thru AI is having on our Popeyes team members there. “The team has embraced the technology and is excited about the new freedom of not having to be at the order window.”
Popeyes says it’s also looking at other ways AI can help its business in the future with things like order forecasting.
