Burger King is turning to AI to keep closer tabs on what its workers say and how they say it.
The fast-food chain is launching an AI chatbot called "Patty" that will live in employee headsets as part of the spoken interface for their BK Assistant platform, according to The Verge. The system is reportedly designed to help with meal preparation and to evaluate customer interactions for "friendliness."
Thibault Roux, Burger King's chief digital officer, told The Verge that the company used feedback from franchisees and guests to define friendliness and trained Patty to recognize phrases like "Welcome to Burger King," "please," and "thank you." Managers can also ask the assistant how their location is performing on friendliness.
“This is all meant to be a coaching tool," Roux said, adding that the company is “iterating” on capturing conversational tone as well.
The OpenAI-powered technology reportedly gathers information from drive-thru orders, kitchen machinery, inventory systems, and other operational areas. As explained by The Verge, employees can ask specific questions such as the correct number of bacon strips for a particular burger, or step-by-step guidance on cleaning the shake machine.
Tied into Burger King's cloud-based point-of-sale platform, the assistant can also notify managers when equipment malfunctions or products run out.
“Within 15 minutes, the entire ecosystem will remove it from stock — whether you're walking into a restaurant to order from the kiosk, whether you're going to the drive-thru, the digital menu board will be updated,” Roux said.
The Verge mentions that although Burger King is introducing Al through worker headsets, it is holding off on a broad expansion of AI-powered drive-thrus like those piloted by McDonald's, Wendy's, and Taco Bell.
“We're tinkering with it, we're playing around with it, but it's still a risky bet,” said Roux, before adding that fewer than 100 locations are currently testing the AI drive-thru system. “Not every guest is ready for this.”