With AI technology rising in popularity in the last few years, it was already expected for companies to use it in their business and McDonald's is among them. However, it might not be as beneficial as the fast-food giant had hoped.
McDonald's AI Drive-Thru is Winding Down
We've had our fun with people posting about their disastrous experiences with the AI drive-thru, but there comes a point when it just becomes more of an inconvenience when it struggles to take orders through voice prompts.
Although the company did not specify why the AI service is being winded down, McDonald's announced that it is halting its partnership with IBM "no later than July 26th, 2024," which will affect more than 100 branches.
As mentioned in The Verge, McDonald's was testing whether the voice-ordering chatbot would improve the overall service for drive-thrus by speeding it up. Their conclusion was that it would be the solution part of their restaurants' future.
That simply means that we will be seeing more of the AI order-taking service, and it will hopefully be better the second time around than when it started in 2021. A little over last year, a lot of people took to social media to show just how incapable the AI system is at taking orders.
One instance was when a customer had a simple order of vanilla ice cream and a cup of water, and the AI still struggled to understand the order. After several corrections from the customer, the service still made a few mistakes as it added a ketchup packet and butter to the order.
Another customer attempted to order a Mountain Dew and the AI system instead registered a medium Coke. The customer immediately said that the AI got their order wrong, but instead of correcting the registered order, the AI started over instead, making the process longer.
Of course, users might just be posting about the bad outcomes. As claimed by McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski, the AI system had 85% accuracy in taking orders, although as per Gizmodo, the company expected it to have an accuracy as high as 95%.
Wendy's is Also Aiming for an AI Innovation
McDonald's is not the only American fast-food company that plans to add AI services to their business. Wendy's has also been slowly adding AI technology into its operations. Just like McDonald's, Wendy's wanted to start using AI to take orders in drive-thrus.
It will be an automated experience where drivers won't even have to line up to an order widow, as they can state their order through an intercom in the parking lot. Called FreshAI, it will also be added to restaurant kiosks and mobile apps.
The restaurant is partnering with Google Cloud to make the AI ordering service possible. The company even aims to deliver the order to customers using an underground order delivery to the customer's designated parking spot for faster service.
It will be partnering with Pipedream to design an underground autonomous robot system for the operation. The Instant Pickup portals will be positioned outside just beside the car in the designated parking spot.
