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McDonald's is to replace human servers with voice gen in its US drive-throughs

bbc.com

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Re: McDonald's is to replace human servers with voice gen in its US drive-throughs

#21

Post by Mountain_Skies »

bluedino wrote: post #9
jsharf wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure when the last time you tried the assistant was, but Google's speech-to-text is getting ridiculously good. I think most of the time, it would be able to get even complicated orders correct. Anyways, I'm sure that for the 10% where it doesn't work, they can install an interactive touchscreen for correcting orders (or have an app). And for the 90% of the rest, they save a ton of money by having computers do…

Have you seen people order? I would shoot half the customers if I worked a fast food counter much less the drive through.

My first job was at Burger King. Working the drive thru was seen by most as a punishment. During the day it wasn't that bad but at night people were absolutely ridiculous in their behavior and expectations. It didn't help that many were drunk or under the influence of other intoxicants. Not sure how well automated systems would be able to deal with such situations. Maybe the customers simply couldn't order food unless they conformed to the system. Or maybe they'd just drive off, with the business losing a sale.

With the near ubiquity of internet connected phones and tablets, making a greater push for people parking outside the restaurant, ordering on their phone and having it delivered to their car curbside seems like the better medium to long term play. Get rid of the drive thru altogether. Likely would make the entire place safer for pedestrians too.

Re: McDonald's is to replace human servers with voice gen in its US drive-throughs

#23

Post by loceng »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #21
bluedino wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you seen people order? I would shoot half the customers if I worked a fast food counter much less the drive through.

My first job was at Burger King. Working the drive thru was seen by most as a punishment. During the day it wasn't that bad but at night people were absolutely ridiculous in their behavior and expectations. It didn't help that many were drunk or under the influence of other intoxicants. Not sure how well automated systems would be able to deal with such situations. Maybe the customers simply couldn't order food unles…

Sounds like a design funnel using AI system that doesn't respond to the shenanigans would take the reward away from them, and they'd just "behave" and order.

Re: McDonald's is to replace human servers with voice gen in its US drive-throughs

#24

Post by burgerboy »

devoply wrote: post #16
claar wrote: post #6

Much better article about this direct from McDonalds - https://news.mcdonalds.com/stories/company-news-details/acqu... @dang can we get the URL changed?

Article you posted is mostly P/R fluff. I would prefer a human taking my order. Automating this stuff has 2 benefits, reduced costs while still selling over-priced sub-par food. Second, being able to upsell using video and voice technology. Are either of these good for consumers, not particularly. Nor are they good for employees. They are potentially good for management and ownership. That's pretty sad outcome to all…

Their company doesn't need to use your morals

Re: McDonald's is to replace human servers with voice gen in its US drive-throughs

#25

Post by cbdumas »

Spooky23 wrote: post #19
hirundo wrote: post #15

Next they'll come for the cooks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKCVol2iWcc There are ~487k fast food cooks employed at ~$22.6k average wages. That's more than an $11 billion annual incentive to bring robochefs to retail. And that's just fast food, just in the US. Robo janitors may take a bit longer. Maybe they can design automated kitchens that work like jumbo dish washers. Seal, flood, heat, drain, reopen. The jan…

Next they’ll come for the liquidator. The Burger King on the NYS thruway north of nyc went to touchscreen ordering. Everyone refuses to use it and there is one long line going to the one register that remained.

Really? I've seen touch screen ordering at McDonalds all over the place and most people seem to have no problem with it. Why do you think people avoid it?

Re: McDonald's is to replace human servers with voice gen in its US drive-throughs

#26

Post by mc32 »

Whimsically, I’d like to see this system only take orders in Japanese.

Well, you can speak to it in English (or whatever native tongue you prefer) but it gets translated out loud to you, then in response it speaks Japanese back to you and again on the fly translates that to you in your native tongue. Imagine a live translator between you and the ordering system (as redundant as it is).

Eventually returning customers would learn to order in Japanese and they would not need the translations.

But I want it to have a contrived aspect of Japanese futurism even if it’s rubegoldbergian.

M:いらっしゃいませ

C:ハンバーガーを1つくださ

M:はい

Re: McDonald's is to replace human servers with voice gen in its US drive-throughs

#27

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

jumelles wrote: post #18

"What drinks do you have?" "Can I get combo without the drink?" "How much cheaper is it with a water?" "My kid wants the rainbow Happy Meal toy, can we have that one please?" "What time did you stop serving breakfast?" "Do you still have McFlurries? What flavors are there?" This won't go well.

Will is stop people from using drive thru? If not, then it'll be annoyingly tolerated.

Re: McDonald's is to replace human servers with voice gen in its US drive-throughs

#28

Post by bluedino »

cbdumas wrote: post #25
Spooky23 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Next they’ll come for the liquidator. The Burger King on the NYS thruway north of nyc went to touchscreen ordering. Everyone refuses to use it and there is one long line going to the one register that remained.

Really? I've seen touch screen ordering at McDonalds all over the place and most people seem to have no problem with it. Why do you think people avoid it?

We have those and they are slow. I wonder when they’ll put them in the drive through.

Re: McDonald's is to replace human servers with voice gen in its US drive-throughs

#29

Post by burgerboy »

jumelles wrote: post #18

"What drinks do you have?" "Can I get combo without the drink?" "How much cheaper is it with a water?" "My kid wants the rainbow Happy Meal toy, can we have that one please?" "What time did you stop serving breakfast?" "Do you still have McFlurries? What flavors are there?" This won't go well.

I see no reason why a computer couldn't answer those questions

Re: McDonald's is to replace human servers with voice gen in its US drive-throughs

#30

Post by vikinghckr »

devoply wrote: post #16
claar wrote: post #6

Much better article about this direct from McDonalds - https://news.mcdonalds.com/stories/company-news-details/acqu... @dang can we get the URL changed?

Article you posted is mostly P/R fluff. I would prefer a human taking my order. Automating this stuff has 2 benefits, reduced costs while still selling over-priced sub-par food. Second, being able to upsell using video and voice technology. Are either of these good for consumers, not particularly. Nor are they good for employees. They are potentially good for management and ownership. That's pretty sad outcome to all…

So you have a problem with a fast-food restaurant trying to sell fast foods?
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