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McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

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Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#51

Post by markisus »

abrookewood wrote: post #27
thbb123 wrote: post #24

This is starting to feel like Manna, the Marshall Brain novel: https://marshallbrain.com/manna1 > Depending on how you want to think about it, it was funny or inevitable or symbolic that the robotic takeover did not start at MIT, NASA, Microsoft or Ford. It started at a Burger-G restaurant in Cary, NC on May 17. It seemed like such a simple thing at the time, but May 17 marked a pivotal moment in human history.

FYI it's a free novel and worth a quick read.

I started reading it. It’s very interesting that the author thought computer vision would be the hardest part about robotics.

> Without vision, robots could not move around or manipulate objects. All of the other hardware was there. Legs and balance systems to allow bipedal motion had been in place for decades. Robotic fingers and hands with very fine motor control were easy to create. AI software to set goals and make decisions was getting more powerful every day. Everything was there but the vision system.

It turns out that dexterity has been much harder than vision.

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#52

Post by themark »

“McDonald’s tapped Google Cloud in late 2023 to bring more computing power to each of its restaurants—giving them the ability to process and analyze data on-site. The setup, known as edge computing, can be a faster, cheaper option than sending data to the cloud“

What fresh hell is this?

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#53

Post by reaperducer »

themark wrote: post #52

“McDonald’s tapped Google Cloud in late 2023 to bring more computing power to each of its restaurants—giving them the ability to process and analyze data on-site. The setup, known as edge computing, can be a faster, cheaper option than sending data to the cloud“ What fresh hell is this?

It doesn't sound fresh at all.

It sounds like McDonald's going back to the way it used to operate.

I knew a guy who used to repair the PDP-11's under the counters that ran each restaurant. He said the #1 failure mode was soda spilled in the machines.

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#54

Post by reaperducer »

TylerE wrote: post #49
conductr wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this a joke? Five guys is well known for the most outrageously expensive fast food, it’s a meme

He’s not wrong. A quarter pounder with cheese and a large fry from McDonald’s is up to about $11. The same from five guys is $16. Which is… five bucks more. (Medium fries from five guys, which is more fries than the McDonalds large) Crap tier fast food has gotten outrageously expensive. McDonald’s fry prices are up over 40% in 3 years

A quarter pounder with cheese and a large fry from McDonald’s is up to about $11.

I just checked the prices at a location in the downtown of one of the five largest American cities:

  Quarter pounder with cheese: $4.79
  Large fries: $2.39

  Total: $7.18

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#55

Post by the_third_wave »

kortilla wrote: post #30
anon373839 wrote: post #21

I don't understand how McDonalds is still relevant outside of food deserts. The food quality is trash, and the prices are so high that you can and should just go elsewhere and buy real food.

> and the prices are so high that you can and should just go elsewhere and buy real food. Not sure what you’re implying here, but McDonald’s is still contending for the bottom for price on fast food. Groceries are of course cheaper if that’s what you mean by “real food”, but there aren’t restaurants that really compete with that value meal outside of Taco Bell/Time and maybe Burger King.

> there aren’t restaurants that really compete with that value meal outside of Taco Bell/Time and maybe Burger King.

IKEA does, at least here in Europe. Of course you're not going to find an IKEA on every third block but it you happen to have one around and want some average food a for fairly low (and sometimes very low) price they're a good option. They are also a reliable quality, Swedish meatballs are Swedish meatballs everywhere. A bit like McD, really...

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#56

Post by TylerE »

reaperducer wrote: post #54
TylerE wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He’s not wrong. A quarter pounder with cheese and a large fry from McDonald’s is up to about $11. The same from five guys is $16. Which is… five bucks more. (Medium fries from five guys, which is more fries than the McDonalds large) Crap tier fast food has gotten outrageously expensive. McDonald’s fry prices are up over 40% in 3 years

A quarter pounder with cheese and a large fry from McDonald’s is up to about $11. I just checked the prices at a location in the downtown of one of the five largest American cities: Quarter pounder with cheese: $4.79 Large fries: $2.39 Total: $7.18

Did you check the prices, or did you look at a photo of a menu board? I checked the McDonald’s app for a pickup order in my city of 100k in a lcol area just now.

Quarter pounder with Cheese: $5.09 Large Fry: $4.29

Total+Tax $10.34

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#57

Post by eesmith »

acdha wrote: post #18
hiddencost wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean we've been doing large scale business data analytics and micro targeting for a very long time. But this is just ... Boring.

Exactly - the exact same pitch would have been used with “big data” in the 2010s, and probably something about OLAP a decade before that. It was weird seeing that example without even attempting to explain what makes it AI other than, presumably, giving Gartner a lot more money.

"Diapers and beer" was the go-to story for data mining of purchasing data in the 1990s. https://tdwi.org/articles/2016/11/15/beer-and-diapers-imposs...

That link shows both how widespread the idea was, and how shaky the evidence was.

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#58

Post by reaperducer »

TylerE wrote: post #56
reaperducer wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A quarter pounder with cheese and a large fry from McDonald’s is up to about $11. I just checked the prices at a location in the downtown of one of the five largest American cities: Quarter pounder with cheese: $4.79 Large fries: $2.39 Total: $7.18

Did you check the prices, or did you look at a photo of a menu board? I checked the McDonald’s app for a pickup order in my city of 100k in a lcol area just now. Quarter pounder with Cheese: $5.09 Large Fry: $4.29 Total+Tax $10.34

I looked on the McDonald's app.

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#59

Post by Larrikin »

Frederation wrote: post #44
Larrikin wrote: post #28

In my area, I can pay about five dollars more and get an equivalent meal from Five Guys. Why would I ever go to McDonald's when I can get a meal that I actually taste good. Especially something that should not be eaten that often.

Five Guys suck.Their frys suck. They just suck.

The fries could be better, Cajun fries are much better than their plain fries

But in my experience the only people that dislike Five Guys are just complaining about price or are weirdly into In N Out or some other regional chain rivalry. Neither is actually complaining about the taste of the burger.

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#60

Post by Larrikin »

reaperducer wrote: post #58
TylerE wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you check the prices, or did you look at a photo of a menu board? I checked the McDonald’s app for a pickup order in my city of 100k in a lcol area just now. Quarter pounder with Cheese: $5.09 Large Fry: $4.29 Total+Tax $10.34

I looked on the McDonald's app.

The prices in the app are lower than if you actually order in store. Specials and coupons are only offered through the apps now. Actual store prices can be seen on the delivery apps or by just going to a store. You can't actually order online through McDonald's directly because they are trying to force the app on you.

But who actually wants the hassle of having an app for McD, BK, Subway, and other garbage where you're trading your data away, and giving everyday advertising space on your phone, for food that doesn't even taste good for a slight discount.

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