It may be an artificial intelligence that will take your order the next time you want to eat Baconator and Frosty.
Fast-food chain Wendy’s is partnering with Google Cloud on an AI chatbot that takes drive-thru orders, the company announced Tuesday. Wendy’s FreshAI will be deployed in June as a pilot in restaurants in the Columbus, Ohio area. The pilot will be expanded based on the performance of the AI ordering system.
AI could potentially handle most of the services. About 75% to 80% of customers prefer to order from the drive-thru, the chain said. Wendy’s isn’t the first fast food chain to turn to automated processes. McDonald’s In 2022, he launched an automated restaurant.
CKE Restaurants Holdings, the owner and operator of fast-food chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardy’s, is also deploying artificial intelligence at its drive-thru, the company announced in early April. Experts at the National Restaurant Association say AI can help reduce labor costs and address staffing issues.
According to the company, generative AI, a tool designed to generate text, images and other media from user prompts, will be able to converse with Wendy’s customers, understand their bespoke requests and provide answers to frequently asked questions. It has the ability to generate Integrates with restaurant hardware and sales systems.
Wendy’s president and CEO Todd Pennegor said the technology could speed up service to customers. The restaurant chain said it hopes leveraging AI in its drive-thru will allow employees to focus on creating and serving food while building relationships with customers.
Wendy’s and Google anticipate some potential challenges due to menu complexity, special requests, and background noise. With so many menu items and customization possibilities, there are “billions of possible order combinations,” according to the press release. As such, there may be errors in communication or delivery of incorrect orders.
Some have expressed concern about the rapid shift to using AI technology. For example, some people worry that the following will happen: take away jobs from people. A March Goldman Sachs report found that AI services have the potential to: automate There are 300 million full-time jobs worldwide.
Industry leaders are taking a closer look at the potential problems that AI can pose. Jeffrey Hintonthe man known as “the godfather of artificial intelligence”, recently quit my job at google That way he could talk freely about the dangers of AI. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has also called for AI advances to be released in a responsible manner. In an interview in April, “60 minutes“Society needs to develop regulations for AI in the economy, along with laws to punish abuse,” he said.
