Business Taco Bell rethinks AI drive-through after man orders 18,000 waters


Taco Bell is rethinking its use of artificial intelligence (AI) to power drive-through restaurants in the US after comical videos of the tech making mistakes were viewed millions of times.

In one clip, a customer seemingly crashed the system by ordering 18,000 water cups, while in another a person got increasingly angry as the AI repeatedly asked him to add more drinks to his order.

Since 2023, the fast-food chain has introduced the technology at over 500 locations in the US, with the aim of reducing mistakes and speeding up orders.

But the AI seems to have served up the complete opposite.
Taco Bell's Chief Digital and Technology Officer Dane Mathews told The Wall Street Journal that deploying the voice AI has had its challenges.

"Sometimes it lets me down, but sometimes it really surprises me," he said.

He said the firm was "learning a lot" - but he would now think carefully about where to use AI going forwards, including not using it at drive-throughs.

In particular, Mr Matthews said, there are times when humans are better placed to take orders, especially when the restaurants get busy.

"We'll help coach teams on when to use voice AI and when it's better to monitor or step in," he said.

The issues have been building online as disgruntled customers take to social media to complain about the service - with many pointing out glitches and issues.

One clip on Instagram, which has been viewed over 21.5 million times, shows a man ordering "a large Mountain Dew" and the AI voice continually replying "and what will you drink with that?".

It isn't the first time there has been issues with AI not getting it right when it comes to processing food and drink orders.

Last year McDonald's withdrew AI from its own drive-throughs as the tech misinterpreted customer orders - resulting in one person getting bacon added to their ice cream in error, and another having hundreds of dollars worth of chicken nuggets mistakenly added to their order.

But despite some of the viral glitches facing Taco Bell, it says two million orders have been successfully processed using the voice AI since its introduction.
 
Good thing the fast food experience became too dystopian and too expensive a couple years ago.... otherwise the prospect of having to consult HAL to get an order done might have been disconcerting to me.
 
the robot at checkers does great at getting my order to the line cooks
 
AI, much like robotics in some manufacturing applications, can/will never overcome the human element of unpredictability.

Yes. You can fork over $750,000 for a robotic welder, fixturing and programming to make parts faster and pay someone pennies to load it night and day. And you're right. You're going to save money on labor right up until the point where that part is pulled out of the machine and there's a problem.

You're paying a vegetable the lowest tolerable wage to load that fixture. They're going to fuck up and not care. And that robot is going to weld regardless. Now you have to hire a welder anyways to fix the robot vomit because you nixed your IPI staff because "ROBOTS!" and bad parts got to a customer. And that welder has to be better (more expensive) than average because he also has to inspect and repair, not just lay a bead.

What did you save?
 
The "Artificial Intelligence" name itself intimates that the results it produces are somehow always going to be correct. because it's "intelligent"

Any business falling for that myth deserves to go out of business.
 
I imagine that one video where its the alien guy ordering 1 million cigarettes.

God forbid a system like this is used in a gas station located in a poverty-stricken town.
 
Should have just linked drive-thrus to Indian call centers.
King of the hill already predicted how that would end:
Except instead of a roadtrip it would be a flight to calcutta to meet a pajeeta working in slave labor conditions

That said they really should have seen something like this coming. Shows just how little thought and testing actually went into implementing this shit
 
What happened to American freedom? I thought you guys had the right to do whatever the fuck you want with your money and all that shit? If a man wants an ocean of water from taco bell is he not entitled to it?
No! Says the man in Washington- it belongs to the poor. NO says the man in the Vatican it belongs to God. No says the man in Russia it belongs to everyone.
 
bacon added to their ice cream in error, and another having hundreds of dollars worth of chicken nuggets mistakenly added to their order
this is fucking hilarious - how can you even have bacon as an add-on to ice cream? I'm literally laughing my ass off
A small cup at taco bell is 16oz. 16oz*18000=288,000oz. A gallon is 128oz. 288,000oz/128=2250. That is 2250 free gallons of water that ai has given us.
we used to fuck with drive throughs late at night ordering small waters (which were free) and nothing else

eventually they caught on and started charging for them lol
 
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