New York – Have you ever messed up your McDonald’s order at an AI-powered drive-through? The experiment behind the fast food giant’s current automated order taker will soon come to an end.
McDonald’s confirmed on Monday that it has decided to end a global partnership with IBM, which has been testing this artificial intelligence technology in select McDonald’s drive-throughs since 2021.
That doesn’t mean you’ll never encounter some kind of chatbot while buying fries on your car ride home again. While IBM’s partnership for McDonald’s current automated order-taking trial is ending, the Chicago-based company suggested it wasn’t ruling out any other potential plans for AI drive-throughs in the future — pointing to “an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly.”
“Our work with IBM has given us confidence that a voice ordering solution for drive-throughs will be part of the future of our restaurants,” McDonald’s said in a prepared statement this week – adding that it would continue evaluations to “take a informed decision on a future voice ordering solution by the end of the year.”
Numerous fast food chains have begun exploring implementing AI across operations in recent years, with many pointing to possibilities for maximizing speed and reducing costs.
In the US, Wendy’s partnered with Google Cloud to develop the “Wendy’s FreshAI” chatbot. White Castle has teamed up with SoundHound AI with the goal of bringing voice-powered AI technology to more than 100 restaurants by the end of 2024. And a handful of Panera, Arby’s and Popeyes locations brought OpenCity’s “Tori” voice assistant to their ordering areas.
Beyond America, Popeyes UK also launched its first AI-powered drive-throughs (dubbed “Al”) last month, after the company said a pilot program reported 97% accuracy.
The success of AI-powered drive-throughs has been mixed. McDonald’s automated order taker with IBM has received numerous complaints in recent years, for example – with many taking to social media to document the chatbot misunderstood their orders.
One 2023 TikTok, for example, appears to show the drive-through assistant placing order after order of McDonald’s chicken nuggets on a car bill, despite customers asking him to stop while laughing. Additional posts show a number of other mishaps – like adding strange extras like ice cream with ketchup and butteror taking orders from other cars nearby.
Unnamed sources familiar with the technology told CNBC that technology has had difficulty interpreting different accents and dialects, among other challenges that affect the accuracy of orders.
McDonald’s declined to comment on the accuracy of the automatic order taker. In an initial statement, IBM said “this technology is proven to have some of the most comprehensive capabilities in the industry, fast and accurate in some of the most demanding conditions,” but did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment on specific details. of possible challenges.
The Armonk, New York-based technology company also said it is currently “in discussions and pilots” with several other quick-service restaurant customers interested in automated order taking.
According to trade publication Restaurant business and CNBC, which obtained a memo sent to franchisees last week, the automated ordering technology will be turned off at McDonald’s stores testing it “no later than July 26, 2024.”
Both IBM and McDonald’s maintained that while the AI drive-through partnership ended, the two would continue their relationship on other projects. McDonalds said it still plans to use many of IBM’s products in its global system.
In December, McDonald’s launched a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud. In addition to moving restaurant calculations from servers to the cloud, the partnership also aims to apply generative AI “across a range of key business priorities” in restaurants around the world.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
