Hurdles when ordering

McDonald’s: This innovation irritates many customers

Changed ordering process at McDonald's: If you want your burger, you have to hit the right note.

(Bild: Peter Tomschi)

McDonald's is increasingly relying on artificial intelligence to take orders. Thousands of restaurants worldwide are to be converted accordingly this year. This requires customers to behave in a certain way in the drive-in, otherwise they may not be served ...

If you want to order something to eat at McDonald's in the McDrive, you will probably have to follow certain behaviors in the future, otherwise you will not be served.

McDrive counter trained on AI
This can be seen in a picture (see below) published by a user in the USA on the social news portal Reddit. It shows a drive-through counter at a McDonald's branch. A sign indicates that an AI is being trained at this counter.

As can be seen in the photo, there is a note in English under the loudspeaker: "AI is being trained here." To make it easier for the virtual employee, customers are asked to behave in specific ways.

(Bild: Screenshot/Reddit)

What McDonald's wants to hear from customers
To ensure that the ordering process runs smoothly, customers need to follow a few rules. For example, McDonald's asks them to speak clearly, to use the exact names from the menu for the items they want and to answer all of the AI's questions about the item in question before ordering the next item.

It is not clear from the Reddit post in which branch the test is currently running. It is presumably a US branch.

Not everything works
McDonald's has been testing the use of AI in the ordering process in the United States since 2023 - not always successfully, as various clips on TikTok show. For example, the AI simply added Chicken McNuggets to a TikTok customer's order without stopping (see below).

AI technology soon in Austria too?
Incidentally, the technology could soon also be used in German-speaking countries. McDonald's announced a cooperation with Google in a press release in December 2023. As part of this, the company wants to connect thousands of restaurants worldwide to the Google Cloud and improve the user experience by using artificial intelligence and other technologies.

McDonald's Vice President Brian Rice promises: "This will make restaurant management easier and, above all, improve the experience of our customers and employees."