I love how they develop this in house (after buying a different company), sell it to IBM so they can partner on it, and then ditch them saying they're provably going to go with someone else...
McDonald’s has been testing drive-thru voice AI since 2021. That test followed the company’s sale of its McD Tech Labs to IBM that year.
I love how they develop this in house (after buying a different company), sell it to IBM so they can partner on it, and then ditch them saying they're provably going to go with someone else anyways. What a roller coaster.
Also is it me or is that article mostly corporate nonsense? Maybe I'm just tired.
It's basically a press statement from McDonald's. I think most of the "articles" I see online were thrown together in a few minutes by just pasting together statements from marketing people from...
Also is it me or is that article mostly corporate nonsense? Maybe I'm just tired.
It's basically a press statement from McDonald's. I think most of the "articles" I see online were thrown together in a few minutes by just pasting together statements from marketing people from the company. Notice how most of the few paragraphs are just quotes.
I can’t be the only one who would be quite happy to eliminate humans from the fast food experience. It does highlight the growing need for UBI though, as low skill jobs vanish.
I can’t be the only one who would be quite happy to eliminate humans from the fast food experience. It does highlight the growing need for UBI though, as low skill jobs vanish.
I’m curious. Why? Is it because you’d rather no one have to work those jobs anymore? Is it because you’d prefer to not interact with any people throughout the process? Or is it something else?
I’m curious. Why? Is it because you’d rather no one have to work those jobs anymore? Is it because you’d prefer to not interact with any people throughout the process? Or is it something else?
Well, both. In my idea of a utopian post-scarcity world, nobody works soul destroying fast food and other customer service jobs and we are all free to focus on things that are in some way...
Well, both.
In my idea of a utopian post-scarcity world, nobody works soul destroying fast food and other customer service jobs and we are all free to focus on things that are in some way meaningful. Of course the problem is the transitional period where A(G)I is swallowing up jobs but employment is still necessary.
But also, people are kind of inefficient and I generally like dealing with well operating machines when possible. Automating things is both my job and my main hobby.
I'm not who you asked but I agree with both points, more importantly the first. The pipedream of AI that I cling to is the potential to replace menial work and free humans up to do more...
I'm not who you asked but I agree with both points, more importantly the first. The pipedream of AI that I cling to is the potential to replace menial work and free humans up to do more interesting or creative things. Working in fast food sucks and I don't wish it on anyone so the idea that we can eliminate some of those jobs is great. To the original comment's point, it's only great if this person has guaranteed income or another job.
As for the second, I feel it's nicer to order from a kiosk on days where I'm feeling more anxious and while I haven't personally ordered by voice to an AI assistant I can imagine that it's a similar level of comfort.
I don’t eat much fast food anymore, and removing humans from the restaurants and forcing me to interact with an AI would make me even less inclined to patronize them. The last time I was at a...
I don’t eat much fast food anymore, and removing humans from the restaurants and forcing me to interact with an AI would make me even less inclined to patronize them.
The last time I was at a McDonald’s I had stopped at one off the highway to get a cup of coffee. There was no one working the counter and you had to order from a kiosk. The only employee in evidence was a guy who brought the orders out, put them down on the counter, called out a name, and then went back to the kitchen without interacting with anyone.
I found the whole experience creepy, and after I was back on the road with my coffee I discovered that they got my order wrong to boot.
I have to say, I find that a strange reaction to have. I greatly prefer kiosks at fast food places - it's much easier to parse a menu when you can simply select items on a UI, rather than have to...
I found the whole experience creepy,
I have to say, I find that a strange reaction to have. I greatly prefer kiosks at fast food places - it's much easier to parse a menu when you can simply select items on a UI, rather than have to remember your order and make sure the other person can hear you and make sure they're hearing the right thing. You can change your mind at any time on a kiosk without worrying if the other person just forgot half of what you said.
Talking mechanically to a cashier is not exactly rewarding social interaction. Like, if the social interactions with the McDonalds food staff is a significant portion of your daily interactions to the point where the omission causes a hole, that seems... odd.
You'd hate it in Japan, even at sit down places if you're in a city, they'll give you an ipad and you order there, no talking to the server for your order.
I was just thinking about how much I like Yoshinoya and similar places in Japan, where you buy the tickets from the machine outside. So simple, no need for AI — can you understand a picture of a...
I was just thinking about how much I like Yoshinoya and similar places in Japan, where you buy the tickets from the machine outside. So simple, no need for AI — can you understand a picture of a food? Can you push a button? That’s it!
Well, that’s just a lower tech kiosk, and we do have kiosks in the US, as the person above is complaining about. The AI is necessary only because its drive through, and Americans like buying their...
Well, that’s just a lower tech kiosk, and we do have kiosks in the US, as the person above is complaining about.
The AI is necessary only because its drive through, and Americans like buying their food from their cars where they can’t reach things.
No one is replacing kiosks with AI voices, or if there is it’s only for accessibility.
Yeah, but those low tech kiosks are a way better experience than the McDonald's kiosk. It's like, ten? button presses and animated screen transitions to get through the options and upsells to get...
Yeah, but those low tech kiosks are a way better experience than the McDonald's kiosk. It's like, ten? button presses and animated screen transitions to get through the options and upsells to get through the process. The typical Japanese kiosk is 1 button + one Suica tap.
FWIW, I'm not the OP, but I really don't get the sense that the poster above is insulting you. They find your observation surprising, that's all. They're not saying "odd AND BAD", they're just...
FWIW, I'm not the OP, but I really don't get the sense that the poster above is insulting you. They find your observation surprising, that's all. They're not saying "odd AND BAD", they're just saying "unusual". Nothing wrong with being unusual, nothing wrong with noting unusualness. You do you, friend. I'm assuming they're discussing things in good faith. Text cuts out a lot of information that would generally be passed on by the tone and body language. Absent those cues, a casual, friendly observation can come across as cold and judgemental, even though it isn't, in my opinion.
I don’t eat at McDonald's regularly but I have only ever seen this once, just a couple of weeks ago. I chose to not eat there rather than try to order with it. Hearing the person in front of me...
I don’t eat at McDonald's regularly but I have only ever seen this once, just a couple of weeks ago.
I chose to not eat there rather than try to order with it. Hearing the person in front of me interact with it just felt weird, straight in the bottom of the uncanny valley.
The concept of ordering from a machine is a non-issue. The machine talking with a pseudo-human-but-not-really voice and misunderstanding and repeatedly apologizing is just weird to me. It is all...
The concept of ordering from a machine is a non-issue. The machine talking with a pseudo-human-but-not-really voice and misunderstanding and repeatedly apologizing is just weird to me.
It is all of the downsides of human to human communication with none of the upsides (to me, I know a computer is cheaper than a person to run), but also strictly worse than just pressing a button that orders the thing.
Sure, but the only reason it exists is because people insist on drive throughs. Can't have buttons when people are driving. Is it any weirder than when I ask siri to do something because my hands...
Sure, but the only reason it exists is because people insist on drive throughs. Can't have buttons when people are driving. Is it any weirder than when I ask siri to do something because my hands have dough on them?
My biggest issue with drive throughs is usually the speakers making everything garbled - often on both ends. Sticking a chat bot on a bad speaker isn't going to help.
My biggest issue with drive throughs is usually the speakers making everything garbled - often on both ends. Sticking a chat bot on a bad speaker isn't going to help.
I love how they develop this in house (after buying a different company), sell it to IBM so they can partner on it, and then ditch them saying they're provably going to go with someone else anyways. What a roller coaster.
Also is it me or is that article mostly corporate nonsense? Maybe I'm just tired.
It's basically a press statement from McDonald's. I think most of the "articles" I see online were thrown together in a few minutes by just pasting together statements from marketing people from the company. Notice how most of the few paragraphs are just quotes.
I can’t be the only one who would be quite happy to eliminate humans from the fast food experience. It does highlight the growing need for UBI though, as low skill jobs vanish.
I’m curious. Why? Is it because you’d rather no one have to work those jobs anymore? Is it because you’d prefer to not interact with any people throughout the process? Or is it something else?
Well, both.
In my idea of a utopian post-scarcity world, nobody works soul destroying fast food and other customer service jobs and we are all free to focus on things that are in some way meaningful. Of course the problem is the transitional period where A(G)I is swallowing up jobs but employment is still necessary.
But also, people are kind of inefficient and I generally like dealing with well operating machines when possible. Automating things is both my job and my main hobby.
I'm not who you asked but I agree with both points, more importantly the first. The pipedream of AI that I cling to is the potential to replace menial work and free humans up to do more interesting or creative things. Working in fast food sucks and I don't wish it on anyone so the idea that we can eliminate some of those jobs is great. To the original comment's point, it's only great if this person has guaranteed income or another job.
As for the second, I feel it's nicer to order from a kiosk on days where I'm feeling more anxious and while I haven't personally ordered by voice to an AI assistant I can imagine that it's a similar level of comfort.
I don’t eat much fast food anymore, and removing humans from the restaurants and forcing me to interact with an AI would make me even less inclined to patronize them.
The last time I was at a McDonald’s I had stopped at one off the highway to get a cup of coffee. There was no one working the counter and you had to order from a kiosk. The only employee in evidence was a guy who brought the orders out, put them down on the counter, called out a name, and then went back to the kitchen without interacting with anyone.
I found the whole experience creepy, and after I was back on the road with my coffee I discovered that they got my order wrong to boot.
I have to say, I find that a strange reaction to have. I greatly prefer kiosks at fast food places - it's much easier to parse a menu when you can simply select items on a UI, rather than have to remember your order and make sure the other person can hear you and make sure they're hearing the right thing. You can change your mind at any time on a kiosk without worrying if the other person just forgot half of what you said.
Talking mechanically to a cashier is not exactly rewarding social interaction. Like, if the social interactions with the McDonalds food staff is a significant portion of your daily interactions to the point where the omission causes a hole, that seems... odd.
You'd hate it in Japan, even at sit down places if you're in a city, they'll give you an ipad and you order there, no talking to the server for your order.
I was just thinking about how much I like Yoshinoya and similar places in Japan, where you buy the tickets from the machine outside. So simple, no need for AI — can you understand a picture of a food? Can you push a button? That’s it!
Well, that’s just a lower tech kiosk, and we do have kiosks in the US, as the person above is complaining about.
The AI is necessary only because its drive through, and Americans like buying their food from their cars where they can’t reach things.
No one is replacing kiosks with AI voices, or if there is it’s only for accessibility.
Yeah, but those low tech kiosks are a way better experience than the McDonald's kiosk. It's like, ten? button presses and animated screen transitions to get through the options and upsells to get through the process. The typical Japanese kiosk is 1 button + one Suica tap.
FWIW, I'm not the OP, but I really don't get the sense that the poster above is insulting you. They find your observation surprising, that's all. They're not saying "odd AND BAD", they're just saying "unusual". Nothing wrong with being unusual, nothing wrong with noting unusualness. You do you, friend. I'm assuming they're discussing things in good faith. Text cuts out a lot of information that would generally be passed on by the tone and body language. Absent those cues, a casual, friendly observation can come across as cold and judgemental, even though it isn't, in my opinion.
I don’t eat at McDonald's regularly but I have only ever seen this once, just a couple of weeks ago.
I chose to not eat there rather than try to order with it. Hearing the person in front of me interact with it just felt weird, straight in the bottom of the uncanny valley.
It's just a more advanced phone tree in the end. Nothing we haven't seen before. The process of ordering from a set menu is mechanical to begin with.
The concept of ordering from a machine is a non-issue. The machine talking with a pseudo-human-but-not-really voice and misunderstanding and repeatedly apologizing is just weird to me.
It is all of the downsides of human to human communication with none of the upsides (to me, I know a computer is cheaper than a person to run), but also strictly worse than just pressing a button that orders the thing.
Sure, but the only reason it exists is because people insist on drive throughs. Can't have buttons when people are driving. Is it any weirder than when I ask siri to do something because my hands have dough on them?
My biggest issue with drive throughs is usually the speakers making everything garbled - often on both ends. Sticking a chat bot on a bad speaker isn't going to help.
I'd like a big Mac, a medium fries, divide that by zero and a small coke please.