McDonald's Customers React to Drive-Thru Automation Tests

By Michael Hein

McDonald's announced a new partnership with IBM last week to automate the drive-thru process using artificial intelligence, and customers are feeling anxious. The fast-food giant began testing automated order-taking at 10 locations in Chicago this summer, and while it was not generally popular among users there, it is going on to the next phase of development. Critics online have a whole range of predictions for what this might mean.

McDonald's has developed all of its automated order-taking technology (AOT) so far through its McD Tech Labs subsidiary, which was formerly known as Apprente. On Wednesday, McDonald's and IBM announced that IBM had acquired McD Tech Labs for the purpose of advancing McDonald's AOT on both the customer-facing and employee-facing sides. The merger will be completed in December, and there's no word yet on when AOT will go into wider use, but the press release indicates that the next phase of testing will take place in more areas around the U.S.

There are a variety of reasons why commenters were not excited about this development. For one thing, many related this news to the ongoing labor actions around the U.S., believing that McDonald's was pivoting hastily to avoid paying human workers a higher wage. Many were also concerned about how existing fast-food workers would be treated as they were replaced, and some even brought up the subject of Universal Basic Income (UBI).

Meanwhile, others had security concerns, logistical concerns and ethical concerns. On top of all that, there was a deluge of jokes and pop culture references. Here's a quick overview of the general reaction to McDonald's new AI project.

Prepare

Commenters urged fast food employees, labor organizers and politicians to begin preparing for automation now rather than reacting to it when it becomes more prevalent. They feared that time was already running out to develop policies and awareness of this complex issue.

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Experience

As the news of this AOT development spread, commenters revisited Chris Matyszczyk's firsthand report on a visit to an automated McDonald's drive-thru in Chicago for Technically Incorrect. Judging by his observations, most were no eager to see this technology take hold.

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Antisocial

On the other hand, some users welcomed the idea of an AI order-taking service because it would give them an option to avoid human contact. Some compared it to the rise in self-checkout lanes at stores.

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Examples

AI restauranteurs have been depicted in media enough for users to pull out a few deep-cut references for this occasion. Most assumed that robotic servers would have all the quirks of human ones before long.

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Scare Tactics

A few people even floated a conspiracy theory that McDonald's was advertising this AI program as a way of indirectly intimidating current and former employees to accept whatever wages they were offered instead of fighting for a bigger paycheck.

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Customers

Some commenters wondered if the money McDonald's saves by using AI employees will be offset by the sudden drop in their customer base, as the people they lay off will not be able to afford burgers.

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AI Rights

Many people wondered if it was safe to assume that an AI would willingly work at McDonald's once it was sufficiently advanced. In particular, former employees invited the AI to commiserate with them.

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