Fast food companies have been experimenting with integrating artificial intelligence into their restaurants, from Flippy the burger-flipping robot at White Castle to dynamic pricing at Wendy’s. One arena where AI seems to really be struggling, though, is at the drive-thru — and Taco Bell is the latest to experience AI mishaps at the order box. After taking 2 million orders with AI, Taco Bell has reached one conclusion: we still need humans.
“We’re learning a lot, I’m going to be honest with you,” Dane Mathews, Taco Bell’s chief digital and technology officer, told The Wall Street Journal in a story published Thursday. “I think like everybody, sometimes it lets me down, but sometimes it really surprises me.”
The revelation comes after Taco Bell’s new AI drive-thru ordering system was the subject of memes online, primarily on TikTok, where people had a great time showing off flaws in the new technology. In one video, a customer caught the AI in a loop, continually asking what they wanted to drink until they became so frustrated that they drove away.
In another video, a customer started ordering McDonald’s food at Taco Bell, and the AI just let them do it, and even suggested McDonald’s dipping sauces before the drive-thru worker cut in to complete the order properly.
In a coup de grâce, one customer ordered 18,000 cups of water, and the AI was perfectly fine with it, causing the drive-thru worker to once again step in and save the day.
CNET’s editorial director of Personal Tech, David Katzmaier, witnessed these issues firsthand. “My daughter and I were recently at a Taco Bell with an AI drive-thru attendant,” Katzmaier says. “It got a lot of the order wrong, and when she raised her voice to repeat herself and correct the mistake, the human drive-thru person came on and told us he was listening all along. Makes me wonder why they used the AI at all.”
Some Taco Bell employees have also posted content, gently reminding folks that when they yell at the AI system, the employees can hear them.
Mathews told The Wall Street Journal that the experience is causing Taco Bell to rethink its use of AI in the drive-thru. Notably, Taco Bell has admitted that humans in the drive-thru still make sense even in an increasingly AI-driven world.
He says this is especially true during busy hours and long lines, where humans would be able to handle things better.
“I can tell you it’s a very active conversation inside Taco Bell in partnership with our franchisees,” Mathews told the Journal. “I think at the end of the day, it’s really, really early. And we feel that. And I think other brands feel that, too.”
Those other brands include Wendy’s and McDonald’s, which both dipped their toes into the AI space over the last year. McDonald’s, which had been working on its tech since at least 2019, eventually took down the AI ordering system after a similar failure, but said that AI would be back once it worked out the bugs. Wendy’s, by contrast, is using a system built by Google and is still adding it to restaurants with a goal of 500 new installations by the end of the year.
