Wendy's Begins To Replace Workers With Artificial Intelligence, Is This What The Future Holds For America's Workforce?

In a move right out of a science fiction horror movie, fast food chain Wendy’s has begun replacing its drive-through order takers with an AI chatbot powered by Google software that is trained to understand customers' order requests. 

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Ohio-based company will begin rolling out their AI order takers close to home, with the first locations being in Columbus, Ohio. The company stated that they intend to roll out the change to the stores in June with the intent to decrease the time it takes to order within its drive-throughs. The company is hoping that this change will result in shorter lines for food, according to the company's Chief Executive Todd Pengor.

“It will be very conversational,” Mr. Penegor stated about the changes coming to the store. “You won’t know you’re talking to anybody but an employee,” he said. The company has not disclosed the price to implement the changes, but it’s safe to assume they believe the cost to be worthwhile. 

The AI used by the fast-food chain will have custom-learned terms built into it. Terms like ‘JBC,’ to refer to their junior bacon cheeseburger, or ‘biggie bags’ to refer to combo meals at the chain. The different terminology presents a notable challenge for AI, but the company is attempting its best to work around it. 

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, spoke on the difficult challenges faced in developing order-taking AI. “You may think driving by and speaking into a drive-through is an easy problem for AI, but it’s actually one of the hardest.”

There ends up being a notable challenge to the development, according to Kurian. Problems such as customers changing their orders or major noise coming from the car makes the development of the order-taker much more difficult. 

The AI is also programmed to upsell customers on products during the order process. The upselling will even take in daily promotions and small products for easy add on. Once the order is taken, it will be sent to a computer for cooks to access and then be given to the customer by workers.

Wendy's has reported that the initial tests of the AI were a success. 

The changes show a notable concern for workers in the future. At a time when people are already struggling to find wages and having to compete against migrants willing to work for next to nothing, adding another factor into the mix will only worsen the labor market. While order takers are some of the first to be replaced by AI, it can represent a more sinister change to the overall labor market.