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The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

theregister.com

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Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#41

Post by baggachipz »

worldsayshi wrote: post #32
SoftTalker wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many fast food places now have tablet based ordering As an experience though, they could hardly have implemented it in a worse way. A big part of the reason I don't go to McDonald's any more is that the experience of using the ordering kiosks is so awful compared to just telling a human what I want.

It started out pretty okay but every time I order on one of those tablets they seem to have added an extra step of trying to sell me something more.

That's really the worst part. The upsells are insulting and get in the way of ordering what I want. Classic enshittification, starting with something which people like and slowly deteriorating it in order to make an extra buck. I'm sure the MBAs love it though.

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#42

Post by ToucanLoucan »

blibble wrote: post #31
SoftTalker wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many fast food places now have tablet based ordering As an experience though, they could hardly have implemented it in a worse way. A big part of the reason I don't go to McDonald's any more is that the experience of using the ordering kiosks is so awful compared to just telling a human what I want.

they are quite impressively bad in 2025 how is it so hard to make a user interface that doesn't lag like a bastard on every scroll/click/... it's almost as bad as their terrible, terrible, terrible app

> in 2025 how is it so hard to make a user interface that doesn't lag like a bastard on every scroll/click/...

Because everything is done in fucking React or Node or Blazor or whatever the newest flavor of this wRiTe oNcE rUn aNyWheRe bollocks is, because it always, always, always the exact same fucking thing: abstracting UI elements to fucking goddamn JavaScript and running it in a browser.

And heaven knows McDonald's can't possibly pay for proper software development, they only made like 14 billion last year. They're barely scraping by.

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#44

Post by ecshafer »

diggan wrote: post #22
SoftTalker wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many fast food places now have tablet based ordering As an experience though, they could hardly have implemented it in a worse way. A big part of the reason I don't go to McDonald's any more is that the experience of using the ordering kiosks is so awful compared to just telling a human what I want.

> A big part of the reason I don't go to McDonald's any more is that the experience of using the ordering kiosks is so awful compared to just telling a human what I want. Huh, for me is the polar opposite. Maybe it's because I mumble, is unclear or don't speak the native language as well as the natives where I live, but I always preferred the kiosks. I seem to always get what I order then, and it's a lot easier to cu…

When I worked at McDonalds, a major thing I learned is that when 95% of people say they got an order wrong, the customer ordered it wrong without realizing it. Customer says "I want a cheeseburger, plain", Mcdonalds puts that in as "Cheesebuger, no ketchup, mustard, onion or pickle". Customers will take plain to mean a dozen different things.

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#45

Post by an0malous »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #40

The MIT report that found 90% of workers are regularly using LLMs at work, many of them even multiple times daily [1], somehow has become the spark of the recent explosion of "AI has failed" articles. Which is ironic, because it shows that the people we trust to write with integrity are either only reading the headlines or purposely misleading with their articles. If that's the case, LLMs cannot replace these primary…

I use a notes app multiple times a day for work. Does this make notes apps worth $1T in global investments?

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#46

Post by diggan »

ecshafer wrote: post #44
diggan wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A big part of the reason I don't go to McDonald's any more is that the experience of using the ordering kiosks is so awful compared to just telling a human what I want. Huh, for me is the polar opposite. Maybe it's because I mumble, is unclear or don't speak the native language as well as the natives where I live, but I always preferred the kiosks. I seem to always get what I order then, and it's a lot easier to cu…

When I worked at McDonalds, a major thing I learned is that when 95% of people say they got an order wrong, the customer ordered it wrong without realizing it. Customer says "I want a cheeseburger, plain", Mcdonalds puts that in as "Cheesebuger, no ketchup, mustard, onion or pickle". Customers will take plain to mean a dozen different things.

> Customer says "I want a cheeseburger, plain", Mcdonalds puts that in as "Cheesebuger, no ketchup, mustard, onion or pickle". Customers will take plain to mean a dozen different things.

Isn't it up to the person who is receiving the order to ask clarifying questions then? Since they know it's potentially unclear/ambiguous, why not try to resolve the ambiguity before making the order?

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#47

Post by toddmorey »

jqpabc123 wrote: post #2

One of the lowest level jobs in the market is taking orders at a fast food drive thru. If AI can't do this job, it probably can't do yours either. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c722gne7qngo Bottom line: AI has very poor grasp of reality --- because (surprise, surprise) it has zero real world experience.

As others have pointed out, LLMs were not involved in the project from the article. But this transition will happen quickly—fast food chains are ruthless about efficiency and ordering from a discrete set of available options actually is something that AIs can do really well.

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#48

Post by SoftTalker »

ecshafer wrote: post #44
diggan wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A big part of the reason I don't go to McDonald's any more is that the experience of using the ordering kiosks is so awful compared to just telling a human what I want. Huh, for me is the polar opposite. Maybe it's because I mumble, is unclear or don't speak the native language as well as the natives where I live, but I always preferred the kiosks. I seem to always get what I order then, and it's a lot easier to cu…

When I worked at McDonalds, a major thing I learned is that when 95% of people say they got an order wrong, the customer ordered it wrong without realizing it. Customer says "I want a cheeseburger, plain", Mcdonalds puts that in as "Cheesebuger, no ketchup, mustard, onion or pickle". Customers will take plain to mean a dozen different things.

Rule #1 at McDonald's: Never customize. If you don't want pickles, take them off yourself. Otherwise they'll just get it wrong.

Whenever I took my kids there I told them "if you don't want it the way they make it then don't order it."

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#49

Post by [deleted] »

marcinzm wrote: post #17
bachmeier wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On net I would much prefer to have ai around than not. I agree sort of, but on the other hand we don't know their true cost, whether that's the out-of-pocket expenses, or the pollution and high electricity/water costs that will result.

Of course we know, it’s not magic, but some people like to spread FUD to further their own agendas.

[deleted]

Re: The air is hissing out of the overinflated AI balloon

#50

Post by JKCalhoun »

strict9 wrote: post #3

Interesting to see an opinion piece on the register pointing out 3 camps, none of which apply to most people I know who work in software development. Mainly that ai is a useful tool. Sometimes it is magical but has limits and is often wrong. It can be a great illustrator of sunk cost fallacy when working on very complex problems. But light years faster and more useful than googling for solutions when faced with a dif…

Read on then — the author suggests a 4th camp that I believe you (and I as a matter of fact) can agree with.

"I propose a fourth: AI is now as good as it's going to get, and that's neither as good nor as bad as its fans and haters think…"

I suppose I disagree with "as good as it's going to get" … but for the time being (this decade?) this might be correct.

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