In a way, we need these "pioneers" who operate at scale to serve the dual goals of giving lessons learned to future developers of AI tech, and proving to us that the technology is just not ready to supplant this kind of work.
Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru
31–40 of 237 posts
Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru
#32I’m shocked that anybody with a smartphone is still ordering by talking into a voice box, regardless of whether it’s a human or an AI on the other end. There’s a Starbucks near me that is pickup-only. You mobile order, and inside there’s just a rack where the employees set out drinks as they’re made. Walking inside felt like I’d stepped into a glorious alternate reality.
With mobile ordering it's hard to tell where you are in the queue or where you will be I guess. In the drive thru, at least you can see how many people are in front of you and they're making orders chronologically.
Chick-fil-A is the best at this: you mobile order but they make the order once you’re in line, so the food is made chronologically.
Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru
#33I will say, there is a Wendy’s near me that is piloting an AI drive-thru experience, and I prefer it 10-to-1 to the human version. It had a clear voice, it didn’t disappear randomly, it understood what I meant the first time (even though I was speaking naturally - I didn’t know at first it was AI), and it asked me for feedback (“what sort of sauce?”) in a very understandable way. Drive-thrus are famously a bad experi…
I have never heard someone describe drive-thrus as a “famously bad experience.”
There’s a StarBucks near me that takes about 3-4 minutes per car at the drive thru. Frequently there would be 3-6 cars in line. Yes, people literally wait 15-20 minutes in line before they can even order, much less get their order.
Sure, maybe they’re just inefficient and shouldn’t be rewarded. However the people there are indeed working feverishly (and paid poorly).
Going inside and ordering isn’t any faster.
I’d put this in the “famously bad experience” category.
Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have never heard someone describe drive-thrus as a “famously bad experience.”
The poor quality of drive through communication is a common joke because it’s such a universal experience.
Hasn’t been the case since the 80s. Speaker tech works really well these days.
Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru
#35So AI will replace software engineers but not fast food workers because that work is too complex for AI?
Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru
#36I’m shocked that anybody with a smartphone is still ordering by talking into a voice box, regardless of whether it’s a human or an AI on the other end. There’s a Starbucks near me that is pickup-only. You mobile order, and inside there’s just a rack where the employees set out drinks as they’re made. Walking inside felt like I’d stepped into a glorious alternate reality.
You can’t pay in cash via an app. An alternate reality where nobody can transact without the state seeing it in realtime and having a veto over it (without any burden of proof) is not glorious; that’s called a dystopia. Just because the capability has never been leveled at you personally doesn’t mean that’s a world in which you wish to live.
I’m pretty ok with cash ceasing to exist.
Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru
#37In a way, we need these "pioneers" who operate at scale to serve the dual goals of giving lessons learned to future developers of AI tech, and proving to us that the technology is just not ready to supplant this kind of work.
"Taco Bell achieved the perfect AI Darwin Award trifecta:"
Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru
#38In a way, we need these "pioneers" who operate at scale to serve the dual goals of giving lessons learned to future developers of AI tech, and proving to us that the technology is just not ready to supplant this kind of work.
Exactly. Identical to early self-checkout at the supermarket and a million other examples.
Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can’t pay in cash via an app. An alternate reality where nobody can transact without the state seeing it in realtime and having a veto over it (without any burden of proof) is not glorious; that’s called a dystopia. Just because the capability has never been leveled at you personally doesn’t mean that’s a world in which you wish to live.
I’m pretty ok with cash ceasing to exist.
Most people are, because they don’t realize that when all transactions must be done without privacy and only at the pleasure of the state, the free society that you have come to take for granted will cease to exist.
I did a talk about this very topic at the CCC some years ago:
https://media.ccc.de/v/cccamp11-4591-financing_the_revolutio...
Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru
#40They clearly hired the wrong consulting firm / AI agent stsrtup
Possibly, but they did manage, without consultants: "Taco Bell achieved the perfect AI Darwin Award trifecta".
That's a high score.