Wendy’s stirred up a controversy when it revealed the chain was diving into the Artificial Intelligence (AI) ‘deep end’, phasing in AI-driven Wendy’s menu boards. Now, it appears the first one has surfaced, at a Drive-Thru…
@brittanyann_222 Nah fam. I’m not for this. I had to get back into line so I could record this. #ai #artificialintelligence #wendys ♬ original sound – brittanyann_222
So soon! I expected it to be weeks – or even months – before the new AI-driven menu boards and background tech surfaced at Wendy’s locations across the continent. After all, the chain’s new CEO indicated that the new tech was being rolled out gradually, with full implementation not expected until late 2025.
Be that as it may…
The new tech is officially ‘here’. They’re branding it FreshAI. Whatever that’s supposed to mean. I guess it’s an attempt to associate a friendly, food-forward-sounding concept with their controversial technology. No big deal. But the marketing department obviously had its paws in that decision-making process…
What it does
The system works through a large video display with an audio speaker on the side. It not only displays your conversation with it on the screen, but recites the lines via a pretty sophisticated machine voice. (View TicTok video, above.)
Just like a human Drive-Thru clerk, it confirms your order at every stage, and even asks if there’s anything else it can get you. Then, it flashes your tab amount, and ‘invites’ you to drive up to the window.
Pretty slick…
It’s definitely a leading-edge AI app, even if it is tackling a fairly simple task. Kudos to the developers on their technological achievement. But I, for one, will never get used to ‘talking to a machine’
One Wendy’s customer who tried it reports that his ‘more complex’ order required human intervention, in the end, to get it right. The complications he introduced to the conversation were common ‘hold the onions’-type requests. Wendy’s, take note: Your new AI system still needs some tweaking!
Tip of the iceberg
This Drive-thru implementation of the new AI is just the tip of a mammoth iceberg. And you know what they say: only 10 percent of the berg shows above water!
The big changes to Wendy’s ordering system also involve all-new video menu boards. We assume these will be coming somewhat later. Their AI is reputed to be much more complex. It will store information on individual customers’ preferences (if you are a registered Rewards member). It will then analyse the data to guess what you might want next, or what you’re likely to order as a go-with: “Want fries with that?” And even offer ‘personalized’ specials and deals.
A privacy question
Yes, there are many questions being asked at many social and legal levels, about the privacy issues the new AI implies.
The obvious answer to any complaint is, “You signed up voluntarily for the Rewards program. Therefore, we’re entitled to gather your information and use it however we want to. Read the Terms of Use.”
Ripe for manipulation
But questions about the chain using mass data. gathered without any links to customers’ identities, being used. Critics say the resto will capture and store all data generated through its cash registers and analyse it continuously, in real time. One Wendy’s spokesman explained, the system will be able to tell, at any moment, which menu items are selling well and which aren’t. The resto manager can instruct the system, in advance, to offer price reductions – ‘manger’s specials’ on slow-selling items to boost sales.
But the real concern among consumers and their advocates is that the so-called dynamic pricing system will be abused. The spectre of so-called ‘surge-pricing’ was immediately invoked by critics when the Wendy’s plan first went public. There’ a real possibility that store operators could boost menu prices during peak hours.
Wendy’s has assured its fans that it would never do such a thing. But the potential to implement such procedures already exists within the AI systems. Ready to go live at the tap or a few keys…
My take
I don’t like Drive-Thrus in the first place. I’ve been at a Fast Food joi9nt many times, on days (and times) that the Drive-Thru was so backed-u, it was faster and easier to park, go into the store and order at the counter.
I also dislike talking to a faceless clerk through an intercom. Which may help explain why I dread talking to a machine even more. I also get easily frustrated when even a human clerk fails to get my order right. That’s happened all to often to me, back when I still used Drive-Thrus.
But most of all, I feel violated that Wendy’s us going to collect so much information on me, eve if my name is not attached to it.
Big Burger Is Watching!
~ Maggie J.