Burger King will use AI to check if employees say 'please' and 'thank you'

[highplainsdem]

Source: The Verge

Burger King is launching an AI chatbot that will live in the headsets used by employees. The voice-enabled chatbot, called “Patty,” is part of an overarching BK Assistant platform that will not only assist employees with meal preparation but also evaluate their interactions with customers for “friendliness.”

Thibault Roux, Burger King’s chief digital officer, tells The Verge that the company compiled information from franchisees and guests on how to measure friendliness, resulting in the fast food chain training its AI system to recognize certain words and phrases, such as “welcome to Burger King,” “please,” and “thank you.” Managers can then ask the AI assistant how their location is performing on friendliness. “This is all meant to be a coaching tool,” Roux says, adding that the company is “iterating” on capturing the tone of conversations as well.

The OpenAI-powered Patty serves as the “voice” of the BK Assistant platform, which combines data across drive-thru conversations, kitchen equipment, inventory, and other areas of the Burger King business. Employees can ask Patty questions, such as how many strips of bacon to put on a Maple Bourbon BBQ Whopper, or for instructions on how to clean the shake machine.

Because it’s integrated with the new cloud point-of-sale system, the AI assistant will also alert managers if a machine is down for maintenance or when an item is out of stock. “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 says.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/884911/burger-king-ai-assistant-patty

---

Just what you want - a possibly hallucinating chatbot to report if employees aren't being friendly enough, and to tell them how to clean the shake machine.

What could go wrong?

[SheltieLover]

1. Ai should be illegal

[Jose Garcia]

9. Just wait until the Butlerian Jihad

[Ocelot II]

2. Next they'll use AI to decide whether an employee is wearing enough flair.

[Aristus]

8. What if they're wearing the required amount of flair?

[EYESORE 9001]

10. Well...

if wearing just enough flair is good enough for you, then…

[GB_RN]

3. What. The. Actual...

Really? Really? You’re going to actively spy on your employees, using shit that’s NOT ready for prime time? If you’re that worried, get new employees by PAYING them enough to live on. I bet the software costs more than what decent wages would.

Goddamn. The stupid.

[dutch777]

4. Just keep finding ways to make that burger flipping job more and more desirable huh?

I must admit I appreciate politeness and friendliness, More than the please and thank yous though what I like is a smile. Better get cameras linked to that AI and check that too. Heck, they could say thank you but be giving someone the finger! OMG!

[Miguelito Loveless]

5. This will only continue until AI

decides to kill us all at the Child Rape Regime's request.

[ruet]

6. What a Terrible Reality We Live In.

How this society holds itself together at all escapes me.

[Avalon Sparks]

7. I hate this timeline

Those poor employees.

[not fooled]

11. Too bad I already don't patronize Burger King

so I can't stop now and let them know why.

Despicable and just the tip of the iceberg as the oligarchy further crushes the proles using its new toy, AI.

[Initech]

17. Last time I went there, it was at Vegas airport and it was complete ass.

[Oneironaut]

12. AI micromanagement is the next hell to be unleashed on us.

Have to go the bathroom? AI will know. Not smiling during an interaction? AI will know. Not maintaining eye contact for a acceptable amount of time? Forget to say the correct words in an interaction? AI will know.

Unless if it messes up, because it’s nowhere near 100% accurate. However, you’ll still be blamed anyways.

[wolfie001]

13. They're probably having a difficult time getting anyone to even work there

What a dystopian joke.

[CTyankee]

14. omigod, that is scary!

[ToxMarz]

15. Why don't they just have 'Patty' say please and thank you to the customers

[eppur_se_muova]

19. That would be just TOO simple !

And no one gets demeaned or harassed -- totally unacceptable to corporate America !

[surrealAmerican]

16. for a minimum wage job?

Seriously?
It's a bad enough job already.

[Initech]

18. Oh goody, more excuses for the employers to bully us and steal our money.

[BWdem4life]

20. I welcome our new AI overlords.

[LudwigPastorius]

21. JFC, an AI overseer? How dystopian.

As if low-wage employees don't have to take enough shit on their jobs...

It's a good thing that most Burger Kings are single story buildings, or else we are going to start seeing their employees "Foxconning" themselves to death.