Burger King launches AI chatbots that live in workers headsets to monitor everything they're saying
The fast food giant is keeping a close eye on staff for a very particular reason
The King is attempting to reclaim his throne, keeping a close eye on his workers and trying to make sure that Burger King is the friendliest fast food joint around.
Although something of a baby when compared to the likes of McDonald's and KFC, BK has consolidated itself as one of the big three with over 19,000 locations around the world.
Away from fears that artificial intelligence is coming for our jobs in almost all industries, the likes of customer service representatives and translators are said to be among the most at risk.
Even when not worrying that robots will leave us queuing at the unemployment office, they're apparently spying on us in the workplace, with Burger King introducing a new type of AI to watch over its employees.
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Welcome 'Patty', which is part of the overarching BK Assistant platform that hopes to help employees with preparing meals while also monitoring their 'friendliness' with customers. Yes, AI will now ensure that Burger King's army of staff are minding their Ps and Qs.
Speaking to The Verge, Thibault Roux, Burger King’s Chief Digital Officer, explained how the information was compiled from franchisees and guests, reporting on how they measure friendliness.
This was used to train the LLM to recognize phrases that include "please," "thank you," and "welcome to Burger King." Roux said, "This is all meant to be a coaching tool,” saying that Burger King is 'iterating' on capturing the tone of a conversation between staff and customers.
Powered by OpenAI, Patty is the 'voice' of the BK Assistant platform, which monitors everything from drive-thru conversations to inventory. Employees can even be trained by Patty, who will supposedly tell you how many strips of bacon to put on a burger or how to clean the milkshake machine.
Patty is currently being piloted in 500 restaurants, with plans for the BK Assistant web and app platform to be launched in all US restaurants by the end of 2026.
For those who are worried that AI drive-thrus are the next logical bet, Roux concluded: "We’re tinkering with it, we’re playing around with it, but it’s still a risky bet. Not every guest is ready for this."
When the story was shared on Reddit, there was immediate backlash to the idea of a little AI being planted (figuratively) in the heads of BK staff.
One critic grumbled: "AI is massive overkill to just detect those words. I guess they like wasting money."
Another added: "As a customer, that’s creepy af."
A third said: "I’d rather a genuine conversation with someone than forced corporate speak."
Giving us a potentially grim look into the future, another mused: "We taught AI how to be human, and now AI is teaching us how to be robotic."