This article is original from New Wisdom, edited by Yongyong Haokun, please contact the source for reprinting.

McDonald's announced that the test period of its artificial intelligence voice ordering technology for drive-thru in cooperation with IBM has ended. The technology has been deployed in more than 100 restaurants, and these restaurants will suspend this service next month. McDonald's said it will seek new partners for automatic ordering technology, and potential partners may include OpenAI's Whisper/ChatGPT and Google's Gemini.

McDonald's

Image source: pixabay

The advent of generative AI was supposed to destroy jobs in every industry, including the restaurant industry.

It turns out that it was too early.

McDonald’s is removing AI ordering technology from more than 100 drive-thrus, a sign that the partnership with IBM didn’t make it through its “trial period.”

McDonald's

Image source: McDonald's official website

The company told franchisees that it would “end its AI drive-thru ordering partnership with IBM no later than July 26, 2024.”

The reason why the AI ​​order taker was “fired” was because there were too many videos of the AI ​​version of the drive-thru going viral on TikTok—customers clearly ordered water and ice cream, but received ketchup and butter packets, or 25 McNuggets inexplicably appeared on the bill.

This caused customers to exclaim, “The McDonald’s robot is wild!”

Video source: tiktok

Despite this, McDonald's remains optimistic about future AI solutions. The AI ​​ordering service will not stop there, but "seek help from others". The company plans to explore alternative voice ordering systems by the end of this year.

However, regarding the failure of McDonald's AI ordering assistant, Ethan Mollick quickly clarified that LLM should not be blamed! Because the technical support behind it "is not based on LLM, but on the older NLP technology."

Image credit: Twitter @Ethan Mollick

1. McDonald’s actively embraces AI

McDonald’s Drive-Thru is a fast food service model launched by McDonald’s, which allows customers to complete the entire process of ordering, paying and picking up food without leaving the car.

McDonald's

Image source: McDonald's official website

The first drive-thru restaurant in mainland my country opened on December 10, 2005. As of 2023, there are more than 660 drive-thru restaurants in China. Netizens jokingly call drive-thru "opening the new Mcgate".

In the creation of netizens' memes, McDonald's has become a belief. "Mcgate" stands for McDonald's + Golden Arches, which is the abbreviation of McDonald's loyal disciples.

As a catering giant with great influence, McDonald's has built its own McDonald's empire. The standardization revolution it has triggered has affected the main modules of food processing, kitchen equipment and even American agriculture. Some people even call it the "McDonaldization" of the entire society.

In today's rapid development of artificial intelligence, McDonald's is naturally unwilling to lag behind and is the first to carry out AI.

In 2019, McDonald's took control of the artificial intelligence voice company Apprente and created McD Tech Labs.

In 2021, McDonald's established a partnership with IBM, and McD Tech Labs was acquired by IBM. McDonald's and IBM developed and deployed artificial intelligence ordering technology during the test to "determine whether the automatic voice ordering solution can simplify the operation of staff and create a faster and better experience for our customers."

Although the wishes are good, the new system faces major challenges in accuracy, which has disappointed customers.

McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski told CNBC in June 2021 that voice recognition technology is accurate in about 85% of cases, but about one-fifth of the orders must be assisted by human employees.

2. "AI orderer" who is not helpful

Last year, videos of drive-thru customers struggling to use automatic ordering machines first attracted attention on TikTok.

Some customers said that the technology was intended to "help but not help", causing them frustration and annoyance when ordering - a woman tried to order water and a cup of vanilla ice cream, and the artificial intelligence system calculated these items, but mistakenly added four packets of ketchup and three packets of butter to her order.

In another video, a TikTok user said she only ordered a large iced sweet tea, but the AI ​​technology added nine cups to the order.

Two other women were laughing at the AI ​​ordering system because the system frantically put hundreds of dollars worth of McNuggets on their bills and couldn't stop.

3. McDonald's AI revolution will continue

Despite the setbacks, McDonald's remains confident in the potential of voice ordering solutions.

The company said that the cooperation with IBM has provided valuable experience and will continue to explore long-term, scalable solutions.

McDonald's aims to make an informed decision on alternative voice ordering systems by the end of this year, and potential partners may include OpenAI's Whisper/ChatGPT and Google's Gemini.

Of course, McDonald's did not abandon its old friend and help IBM save its reputation. "It turns out that this technology has the most comprehensive capabilities in the industry and can work quickly and accurately under some of the most demanding conditions." "We look forward to continuing to work with them (IBM) on various other projects."

It also added that "IBM is currently in discussions and pilots with several fast food restaurant customers who are interested in AOT (automatic order processing) technology."

McDonald's + AI = the future of fast food

McDonald's has always been at the forefront of new technology applications, not just automatic order processing.

It's no longer just Big Macs and Happy Meals, but Big Data and Happy Bots.

The company has launched AI menu boards, mobile ordering, in-store kiosks, and even tried drone delivery and kitchen robots.

McDonald's driverless car

Image source: Xiaohongshu@New Stone Age driverless car

Last December, McDonald's reached an agreement with Google to create a chatbot called "Ask Pickles" that can train employees on issues such as how to clean restaurant equipment. The two companies also agreed to work on developing other potential uses of generative artificial intelligence.

It is estimated that McDonald's will continue to firmly embrace AI in all aspects.

4. The restaurant industry is also experiencing an AI boom

McDonald’s is not the only company pursuing AI-driven solutions.

Other fast food chains such as Wendy’s, White Castle, Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s are also experimenting with AI-driven drive-thru systems.

Although concerns about order accuracy remain, these companies are not going to sit idly by in order to automate tasks and improve efficiency.

References:

[1] McDonald’s will stop testing AI to take drive-thru orders, for now, 6.17.2024, the verge

Source of this article’s cover image: pixabay