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AI is the talk of most business sectors these days – and fast food is no exception, as restaurants increasingly use AI voices to take drive-thru orders.
In 2024, McDonald’s shelved (1) its AI ordering technology amid reports of errors such as bacon being added to an ice cream order and hundreds of dollars worth of chicken nuggets being added to a customer’s bill.
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And those are far from the only frustrations that have been reported when it comes to AI order-taking. In one video CBC (2)featured in June, a customer ordering at a Burger King asks for “a side of ranch” to which the chatbot replies, “Want to add two cookies for $1.59?” The customer replies with irritation, “No – ranch!”
And a Redditor recently begged Wendy’s (3) to get rid of its AI drive thru ordering system, writing, “I can speak loud and clear and it would still take 3x to understand what I’m saying.”
Taco Bell, meanwhile, reported last year that not only were there errors, but customers were also intentionally trying to trip up the AI – for example, by ordering 1,800 water cups (4).
But AI ordering may be here to stay. And despite its previous challenges with the tech, McDonald’s has now introduced a new Google-powered AI ordering system called ArchIQ – or Archy.
“You can imagine a future five, 10 years down the line, where no orders at McDonald’s are actually taken by a human being,” Jonathan Maze, editor-in-chief of Restaurant Business, told ABC News (5).
Freeling up employees to ‘do something else’
Deloitte’s 2025 State of AI in Restaurants Survey (6) reported that eight in 10 restaurant executives say their investments in AI technologies will increase in the next fiscal year. The survey respondents also listed customer experience, operations and loyalty programs as areas where they see AI benefiting the business the most.
As for using drive-through AI, Maze told ABC, “You are literally automating a task that was taken by a person. The stated goal that companies use when they use this is to free up an employee’s time to do something else.”
And it may be working for some. White Castle manager Denise Harley told CBC (2) that, despite some early hiccups, the AI system has been working well, noting, “It did help us get the orders in and out faster.”
White Castle worked with speech recognition company SoundHound (7) on their order chatbot. It listens to the customer and answers questions. From there, the order appears on a screen inside the restaurant for the staff to prepare. If the AI, called “Julia,” has any issues, an employee is supposed to take over to complete the order.
One of Harley’s employees noted that, “I thought it was going to be hard to work with, but it actually makes everything easier” – and also joked that their AI system, dubbed Julia, never calls in sick.
Some people are skeptical, others are totally on board
Goldman Sachs research economist Elsie Peng writes, (8)“Where AI can substitute for human labor, and companies can deploy AI to automate tasks, the impact on employment is likely to be negative. In occupations where AI augments human labor, though, the effect is more ambiguous.”
This ambiguity is evident as fast food restaurants implement AI technology in their drive-thrus.
Jamie Richardson — the chief marketing officer of White Castle — told CBC (9), “We haven’t used it as a way to reduce employment. We’ve used it as a way to be, hopefully, more productive.” He also noted that AI drive thru ordering had an over 90% success rate for them; they are using the system at around 40 locations.
Customer reactions remain mixed. One White Castle customer told CBC (9), “If you do something out of the ordinary, it doesn’t recognize it.”
Another said, “It was no hassle – [I was] able to get what I want.”
The World Economic Forum expects that jobs such as cashiers (10) will be one of the fastest to go over the next five years, due to automation. This could mean major shifts as well for the fast food workers, CBC notes.
As another White Castle customer told CBC, despite the AI chatbot getting her order correct, she still had reservations: “I just hate that this is what the world is coming to. That just means less jobs for humans.”
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Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
BBC (1), (4); CBC (2), (9); Reddit (3); Good Morning America (5); Deloitte (6); SoundHound (7); Goldman Sachs (8); World Economic Forum (10)
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