Wendy's is the latest fast food restaurant to jump on the AI trend. By June, the burger maker will be bringing a whole-new drive-thru experience to the customers thanks to the chatbots.
Wendy's Chatbot-Powered Drive-Thru
According to The Wall Street Journal, Wendy's is currently gearing up to present a different drive-thru encounter powered by artificial intelligence.
With AI on top of everything nowadays, it's no wonder why Wendy's embraces the hype of it, and this time with the help of Google.
The news publication adds that the AI chatbot will be first present in Wendy's restaurant located in Columbus, Ohio. The food chain giant will make use of Google's large language model or LLM. What's more, the exclusive acronyms and item names such as "junior bacon cheeseburger" (JBC) and "biggie bag" will be featured by the machine.
To make it more interesting, the AI will restrict the noise around it to focus on deciphering the dialects and accents of the customers when ordering their food.
"Google Cloud's generative AI technology creates a huge opportunity for us to deliver a truly differentiated, faster, and frictionless experience for our customers, and allows our employees to continue focusing on making great food and building relationships with fans that keep them coming back time and again," Wendy's CEO Todd Penegor told Gizmodo via email.
Wendy's AI Chatbot is 'Probably on Average Better'
Gizmodo writes in its report that Wendy's Chief Information Officer (CIO) Kevin Vasconi believes that the company's chatbot will perform better than the best customer service representative.
He thinks that it will be "probably on average better" than its human counterpart. While the arrival of chatbots will guarantee things to be lighter and faster for Wendy's, that's not the case for its workers who are only earning the minimum.
McDonald's AI Drive Thru Bot
Long before Wendy's steps into the AI scene, McDonald's, its main competitor, has already rolled out its own AI drive-thru bot two years ago across 10 locations in Chicago.
Taking fast food orders with new automation is the way to serve more products to the customers. However, not all people are impressed with the AI chatbots.
Back in June 2021, a customer sued McDonald's for invading their privacy. According to the complainant, the fast food restaurant broke the biometric privacy law through this upgrade.
McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski claims that the Siri-like AI automation has at least 85% accuracy in taking orders. While it sounds good at first, the accuracy percentage hit the low-80s instead. The 95% accuracy did not happen prior to the official rollout of AI chatbots.
Meanwhile, The Street reports that another two popular fast-food restaurant chains are currently utilizing AI-based systems for their drive-thru spots.
Hardee's and Carl's Jr. will get to see some action at their drive-thrus with the debut of AI bots.
According to CKE's chief technology officer Phil Crawford, the technology has been transformative to shape the drive-thru experience. He adds that it gives them a "competitive edge" over the other restaurants in the market.
