McDonald’s is scrapping AI chatbots at the drive-thru, after mishaps with the technology went viral.
The company is winding down the program, which it has been testing for two years, and will remove the controversial tech from more than 100 locations that have been using it.
The fast food giant entered into a collaboration with tech company IBM in 2021 to test the program. But it will now wind it down ‘no later than July 26’, Restaurant Business reported.
McDonald’s told the publication that the goal of the test was to determine if automated voice ordering could speed up service, simplify operations and create an improved experience for customers.
However, fast food fans have documented their botched orders at the drive-thru, where the AI chatbot adds unwanted items or cannot understand simple requests.
McDonald’s is scrapping AI chatbots at the drive-thru, after mishaps with the tech went viral
Despite ending the program, McDonald’s did not dismiss the idea of using AI for ordering in the future, and suggested that it could find a new tech partner.
‘While there have been successes to date, we feel there is an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly,’ Mason Smoot, chief restaurant officer for McDonald’s USA, said in the email to franchisees seen by Restaurant Business.
Smoot said the company will continue to evaluate its plans to make ‘an informed decision on a future voice ordering solution by the end of the year.’
McDonald’s has taken a more tentative approach to using AI at its drive-thrus, even as other companies have implemented the tech.
Checkers and Rally’s, Hardee’s, Carl’s Jr., Krystal, Wendy’s, Dunkin and Taco Johns are either testing or have implemented the technology in its drive-thru locations, the outlet reported.
But there have been questions about the accuracy of the voice-recognition tech.
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told CNBC in 2021 that the tech was accurate around 85 percent of the time, but staffers still had to step in and assist with around one in five orders.
But videos of customers struggling to get their orders right have gone viral on TikTok.
One video, captioned ‘fighting with the McDonald’s robot’ showed a woman trying to order a bottle of water and a cup of vanilla ice cream.
Instead, she had four packets of butter and four packets of ketchup incorrectly tacked onto the order.
Another showed two people hysterically laughing as the AI chatbot added over 2,000 McNuggets to their order, totaling over $200.
The fast food industry has long been looking at automation as a way to cut costs and remove the need for an employee – whether to allow a restaurant to operate with fewer workers or redistribute staff to other tasks.
Apps, mobile ordering and in-store automated kiosks have become commonplace in many fast food restaurants, including McDonald’s.
McDonald’s began using AI technology in its restaurants as early as 2019, according to National Restaurant News.
This involved installing 700 menu boards which use AI to automate the upselling of menu items based on time of day, trending items and weather.
The rising cost of food and labor has meant that restaurants are being forced to close down across the country.
The introduction of a $20-an-hour minimum wage in California earlier this year has also put increased pressure on fast food restaurants in the state.
As a result, many businesses are turning towards technology as a way to cut costs.
When the law was introduced in April, a Burger King franchisee with 140 restaurants on the West Coast said that he planned to use digital kiosks in all locations in two months.
Until the wage hike, he planned to roll them out over the next five to ten years.
