A hot potato: It seems companies are finally starting to discover that adding AI to literally everything doesn't automatically make it better – and in many cases, it can worsen the experience. Taco Bell, for example, is another fast-food chain that is rethinking its use of voice AIs at drive-thrus.
Taco Bell is one of several companies that uses voice-AI drive-thrus. It has more than 500 of them at various locations, but it's likely to be more selective when it comes to further expansion.
There have been plenty of complaints about these systems. The most common is that the simply get orders totally wrong, sometimes in comical ways: there have been reports of bacon added to ice cream and customers being charged thousands of dollars after the AIs added dozens of extra items. Check out the customer below who was repeatedly ignored by the AI when he asked for a Mountain Dew.
@fatherlessblondegirl LARGEEE MTN DEW #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #tacobell #bajablast ♬ I WANT A LARGE MTN DEWWW - haleyduff69
There's also the unsettling feeling some people get when talking to a machine, the AI's inability to understand accents, its interruptions, and the general dehumanizing experience of removing real people from these interactions.
Dane Mathews, Taco Bell's Chief Digital and Technology Officer, seems to agree. "I think like everybody, sometimes it lets me down, but sometimes it really surprises me," he told The Wall Street Journal.
Taco Bell is now considering how to use the technology going forward. While Mathews never talked about getting rid of it, he did say it might make sense not to use AI voice at very busy restaurants with long lines, where humans could cope better.
This isn't the first time a fast-food chain has put the brakes on AI voice-powered drive thrus. McDonald's announced it was ending a two-year experiment with IBM involving the technology in June 2024. But Chief Information Officer Brian Rice recently said the company is now working on it with Google Cloud.
In March, Yum! Brands, owner of Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut, announced a strategic partnership with Nvidia. The goal is to deploy multiple AI solutions using Team Green's hardware, including, but not limited to, AI drive-thru systems.
So, while Taco Bell might not be giving up on this technology, it seems to be recognizing that these drive-thrus are not always a good fit for a particular restaurant. The limitations are becoming more apparent, too. Customer reluctance to use AI may also be a factor, but most companies are largely indifferent to such concerns.
Taco Bell slows down AI drive-thru push, admits technology isn't perfect
