Wendy’s said Tuesday it is using Google’s artificial intelligence tools to create a new drive-thru experience in which diners will order their meals by speaking with a chatbot.
Starting in June, the fast-food eatery will debut “Wendy’s FreshAI” at a Columbus, Ohio-area restaurant where the AI bot will “have conversations with customers” to understand made-to-order requests and answer questions.
There are billions of possible order combinations on Wendy’s menu, but the company says Google Cloud’s new generative AI tools are capable of handling complicated orders.
CEO Todd Penegor said Tuesday his company debuted the “first modern pick-up window in the industry” more than 50 years ago and he believes Google Cloud is ready to overhaul people’s drive-thru experience.
“Google Cloud’s generative AI technology creates a huge opportunity for us to deliver a truly differentiated, faster and frictionless experience for our customers, and allows our employees to continue focusing on making great food and building relationships with fans that keep them coming back time and again,” Mr. Penegor said in a statement.
The fast-food eatery is not replacing its famous red-headed girl mascot with a robot quite yet, but Wendy’s hopes the information it gathers from its pilot operation in Ohio will lead to expansions at more drive-thrus.
Google’s AI tools have access to Wendy’s menu, business rules and logic for “conversation guardrails,” and integration with the restaurant’s hardware and point-of-sale systems, according to an announcement from Google and Wendy’s.
The partnership between Google and Wendy’s dates back to 2021, when the duo set their sights on leveraging the tech titan’s AI to develop new ways for people to order food in the drive-thru, on their phones and in the restaurants.
“Generative AI is fundamentally changing how people interact with brands, and we anticipate Wendy’s integration of Google Cloud’s generative AI technology will set a new standard for great drive-thru experiences for the quick-service industry,” Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said Tuesday in a statement.
As Big Tech automation reaches the fast-food industry in Ohio this summer, proponents of raising the minimum wage are taking new steps to increase the salaries that fast-food restaurants must pay their human workers in the Buckeye State.
Last month, the Ohio Ballot Board voted to clear a path for Raise the Wage Ohio to gather signatures for its proposed constitutional amendment pushing the minimum wage up to $15 an hour. The group needs more than 413,000 valid signatures to get its proposed minimum wage hike onto the statewide ballot in November 2024.
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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