McDonald's removes IBM AI ordering technology from drivethroughs

Fast food chain McDonald's is removing IBM's AI ordering technology from its drive-throughs. The Automated Order Taker technology was present in at least a hundred branches in the United States. After July 26, the technology must be removed everywhere.

The AI ​​ordering technology was introduced in 2021 in collaboration with IBM. As part of this partnership, the latter acquired McD Tech Labs from McDonald's, the company founded by the fast food chain after it acquired speech recognition company Apprente in 2019. The speech recognition software had to automate and speed up the ordering process in McDrives.

Although the AI ​​orders were part of a test, it has not been disclosed why McDonald's is removing the technology. According to Chris Kempczinski, the CEO of McDonald's, the speech recognition software was about 85 percent accurate. One in five customers would still require assistance from an employee. Several have also appeared in recent years videos on social media which showed the AI ​​technology taking orders incorrectly.

The AI ​​ordering technology must be completely removed no later than July 26, McDonald's reports Restaurant Business. The fast food chain says yes Business Insider that speech recognition will be part of its restaurants in the future. It is not clear whether McDonald's will look for another partner. IBM says it will continue to work with McDonald's on other projects.