Wendy\u2019s AI drive-thru is going viral and sparking fears about the AI takeover Tasting TableWendy\u2019s AI-assistant-powered drive-thru has gone viral all across social media, sparking a conversation about what it means for both customers and employees of fast food chains. In a video that\u2019s been trending all over TikTok, a customer documented her experience of using Wendy\u2019s drive-thru AI assistant \u2013 and people were amazed. The video quickly viral, accruing over 13 million views on the platform, and being shared to X\/Twitter too. TikTok user @brittanyann_222 was shocked when she was asked to give her order to an AI instead of a human. \u201cWelcome to Wendy\u2019s, what would you like?\u201d the company\u2019s new AI assistant asked. Brittany made her order, opting for a medium Chocolate Frosty. The computer then asked her \u201cCan I get you anything else today?\u201d to which she declined. \u201cThat\u2019s all,\u201d she said, before being told to pull up at the next window. Viewers were astounded after seeing the new AI assistant in action, writing \u201cOh wow\u2026 I\u2019m writing an essay about AI. I\u2019m bringing this up lol.\u201d Many were impressed by the new technology: \u201cI like that it\u2019s polite and takes my order correctly. Better than the previous option.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ve used these at a couple restaurants and it honestly understands what I\u2019m ordering with incredible accuracy. To me, it\u2019s an improvement,\u201d another agreed. Some weren\u2019t so sure, saying that \u201cwe keep seeing time and time again that the only purpose of AI advancement is to reduce jobs and save money for the corporate overlords and there\u2019s still no policies on it.\u201d \u201cHow are we teenagers and young adults going to support ourselves?\u201d another asked. A viral post on X\/Twitter reacting to the video speculated that AI would \u201cwipe out 80 percent of the jobs on the planet if we don\u2019t do something.\u201d Wendy\u2019s rolled out its AI drive-thru\u2019s in 2023, trialling at four locations in Columbus, Ohio. However, customers will see more rolled out throughout the course of 2024, as a part of the chain\u2019s AI expansion plans. \u201cWendy\u2019s FreshAI is not just a speaker and a microphone,\u201d Matt Spessard, chief technology officer for Wendy\u2019s, said in a piece posted to the Wendy\u2019s website. \u201cIt\u2019s a personalized, responsive experience for every customer. \u201cOur accuracy during the pilot, measured as the percentage of orders successfully handled by Wendy\u2019s FreshAI without restaurant team member intervention, averaged 86% and we would expect the average to only to increase.\u201d So, despite some viewers\u2019 apprehensions, these machines will become increasingly common. A number of smaller chains, such as Checkers, Krystal, White Castle and Hardee\u2019s and Carl\u2019s Jr., also have their own drive-thru AI ventures, and large chains such as Dunkin\u2019 are also testing the new technology. Another drive-thru customer went viral back in January, when they pulled up to the window with a horse in the backseat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wendy\u2019s AI drive-thru is going viral and sparking fears about the AI takeover Tasting TableWendy\u2019s AI-assistant-powered drive-thru has gone viral all across social media, sparking a conversation about what it means for both customers and employees of fast food chains. In a video that\u2019s been trending all over TikTok, a customer documented her experience of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}