McDonald’s Gives Up On ‘AI’ After Comedy Of Errors, Including Putting Bacon On Ice Cream
from the I'm-sorry-I-can't-do-that,-Dave dept
If there’s been one recurring theme during the “AI” (read, language learning models) revolution, it’s that the tech sector and greedy financiers are prematurely rushing undercooked technology to market. We’ve seen it broadly across industries, whether it’s fabulism-prone fake journalists, automated health insurance systems with 90% error rates, or Google telling people to eat rocks and glue.
McDonald’s is the latest company to learn this lesson the hard way as well, after its partnership with IBM resulted in “AI” powered drive-through systems that were giving patrons preposterous numbers of chicken nuggets and unwanted butter patties, or putting bacon on ice cream:
“In one video, which has 30,000 views on TikTok, a young woman becomes increasingly exasperated as she attempts to convince the AI that she wants a caramel ice cream, only for it to add multiple stacks of butter to her order.
In another, which has 360,000 views, a person claims that her order got confused with one being made by someone else, resulting in nine orders of tea being added to her bill.
Another popular video includes two people laughing while hundreds of dollars worth of chicken nuggets are added to their order, while the New York Post reported another person had bacon added to their ice cream in error.”
The trial, which started in 2019, was ended last week. The 100 restaurants it has been testing the technology will have it removed by the end of July. McDonald’s insists that automation is still “part of its restaurants’ future,” but it will spend the rest of 2024 in contemplative mode. It’s not entirely clear if the company would have ended the trial if its problems hadn’t gone viral on TikTok.
LLMs certainly hold potential, but as we’ve seen time and time again in tech over the last fifteen years, the hype and greed of unethical pitchmen has gotten way out ahead of the actual locomotive. A lot of people in “tech” are interested in money, not tech. And they’re increasingly making decisions based on how to drum up investment bucks, get press attention and bump stock, not on actually improving anything.
The result has been a ridiculous parade of rushed “AI” implementations that are focused more on cutting corners, undermining labor, or drumming up sexy headlines than improving lives. The resulting hype cycle isn’t just building unrealistic expectations and tarnishing brands, it’s often distracting many tech companies from foundational reality and more practical, meaningful ideas.
Filed Under: ai, burgers, drive through, fast food, hype, llm
Companies: mcdonalds
Comments on “McDonald’s Gives Up On ‘AI’ After Comedy Of Errors, Including Putting Bacon On Ice Cream”
“McDonald’s insists that automation is still “part of its restaurants’ future,” but it will spend the rest of 2024 in contemplative mode”
BAD AI! Go to your room and think about what you have done!
Picture of a T-800 sitting on a broken bunk bed with a dunce cap
Why would they take them down?
The AI served it’s purpose. It saved McDonald’s an FTE, which is the sole criteria they care about.
As far as service goes, even the AI knows the shake machine is still broken.
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I doubt that’s true. They care about saving money, and I guess this didn’t do it. Also note that saving a franchisee money is not the same as saving McDonald’s money, which can make the math non-obvious.
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They care about making more money than they spend. Overall, it sounds like the AI was a smashing success because it got hundreds of thousands of people to see the words “McDonalds” and think about things like chicken nuggets. The cost of fixing someone’s ice cream order or mistakenly handing out dozens of butter packets is literal chump change. When the AI makes the mistake, it’s a funny YouTube video that doubles as thousands of dollars worth of advertizing. When a person makes the mistake, all you get is a screaming Karen having a meltdown in your lobby driving other customers away.
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Were they packets or patties? The story says patties, but that’s obviously absurd, as I imagine any employee asked to form a patty of butter would notice.
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Single-serve butter often comes in packets that are shaped like (and referred to as) “patties”.
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Here’s the thing though – if the AI can’t fix its own errors, you end up either paying someone to fix them or driving customers away. If the AI fucks up often enough, you end up paying for a person to sit around fixing the AI all day instead of just taking the order themselves and getting it done faster.
The cost of fixing one customer’s order is chump change. If you end up fixing more orders than go through correctly, it adds up. If it were cheaper for McDonalds to throw a burger at everyone coming through the drive-thru and fix it later if needed, they would.
Side note: I’ve had ice cream topped with bacon bits before, and it was actually quite good.
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That’s what I popped in to say. Bacon on ice cream is god pussy.
Mmmmm....
Ice cream with bacon on it sounds delicious, there goes my diet. Thanks AI
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Restaurants are putting bacon on everything else, so why not? I wouldn’t be surprised to see butter patties and hundred-McNugget boxes added to the menu either.
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Denny’s was making ice cream sundaes with bacon like a decade ago. This well predates AI.
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https://www.dennys.com/news/dennys-baconalia-menu-returns-americas-diner
2011
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Actual working link.
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Wow. This has gotta be like the Gilette 5-blade thing, where they got the idea from a comedian.
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It doesn’t matter where they got the idea, for me, 5 blades was enough to get me to switch from 3 blades once I ran out of 3 blade heads. I consider it an unnecessary luxury, but one I can afford and want.
3 blades was so much better than 2 blades that the first time I tried a 3 blade razor, I immediately through away all my two blade razors.
You may have a different experience, but for me the differences between 2,3, and 5 blades is significant.
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Agreed. Swear half the commenters here are just Luddites poo-pooing anything different from what they’re used to.
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Uh, where? Sometimes even good ideas are amusing, and it’d be unfortunate to be so bitter as to overlook that.
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Humor typically involves a level of the unexpected. Adding at least a few more blades was foreseeable when we were at 3. Very few people, by contrast, are expecting 220 chicken nuggets and/or 9 teas.
I mean, anyone who’s ever done any level of work with “AI” would have expected it, but we’ve had our popcorn ready.
Anyway, what’s the deal with airline food? Not once have they offered me bacon on ice cream, which I wish to reiterate, is delicious.
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That’s easy to claim in retrospect, but there’s a reason it was considered a joke. I could just as well foresee that, one day, cars will have 20 wheels (it’d reduce road wear); that doesn’t make the 10-axle car in the Whacking Day episode of The Simpsons any less funny.
Delicious or not, the idea of bacon as an ice cream topping does seem to have surprised Karl and some reporters and commenters. But I guess its day is coming.
Some fast-food places have cardboard cup-carriers for up to 6 cups, and orders with 9 hot beverages probably aren’t all that rare. Ordering for an office would be an obvious example. And 220 nuggets would be an entirely reasonable order for a party, or for the players and coaches and referee at a school soccer game (25 people, most expending a lot of energy).
It may seem absurd to the person ordering. But if a kitchen staff member sees an order like that appear on their screen, I wouldn’t expect them to be all that surprised.
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Get a good single-blade safety razor and you’ll never look back.
Re: Re: Re:4 mis-named
Not sure why they call those things ``safety” razors, they seem inclined to destroy the target face. At least with a standard razor, assuming some level of competence, the person doing the shaving is in control.
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An as a related aside, bacon ice cream has existed since at least 1992, if you consider bacon and egg ice cream a thing…
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around a LOT longer than a decade. Please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence
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I don’t believe it was doing anything with bacon or ice cream prior to 2011. Watson was on Jeopardy in 2011. Maybe Denny’s asked it if ice cream and bacon go together.
I’ll go ahead and update my comment though:
In any event, I hope you don’t consider every advance in the pursuit of AGI to be “AI.” If we follow that logic, my pedalboard is for space guitars because NASA invented Velcro. Also, it would make so many software products “AI” as to render the term fully meaningless.
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while, alas, Natural Stupidity (NS) (RTFM) has been around for ever, or so it seems.
If it had run correctly, I’m curious how much it actually costs to run these in production, including its tech support etc. It also seems pretty fragile to me.
In the end, people are remarkably cheap for how adaptable they are.
So artificial intelligence wasn’t intelligent enough to replace a McDonnald’s employee taking orders.
Or was it ahead of its time adding bacon to the ice cream?
uummm, baaa-con
Bacon on ice cream isn’t quite the own some think it is. Name something that DOESN’T taste better with bacon.
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It’s a thing Denny’s was doing as far back as 2011 because it’s delicious.
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Bacon on icecream is certainly going to trigger dietary restrictions (for reasons of health, religion, principles) for enough customers to be a bad idea for a surprise offering.
As a vegetarian it is an ongoing annoyance to have to ask about any kind of listed “vegetable” side dish whether any of them happens to contain bacon or other pork as “seasoning”.
There's still a use case for AI at McDonalds
I’m reasonably sure it could do the CEO’s job.
Signed,
A long-time McDonalds shareholder
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I bet AI doesn’t even need a golden parachute to tank a business.
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I’ve no doubt that you could replace a whole slew of CEOs with AI and get better results, but to be fair you could replace them all with literal bricks and also see improvements.
Who was it?
That SAID, AI wont loose any jobs?
Same person who thinks Self used registers, is Working?(they are finding people are forgetting products in the cart, and Loss is up by 40%.)
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I certainly would expect AI to do better at spelling once LLMs get involved.
Though training material for LLMs that doesn’t constantly confuse “lose” and “loose” may be hard to come by in sufficient amounts these days.
So what they’re saying is, basically, they could have done better by having Indians reviewing the orders in lieu of AI.
AI has achieved one thing. “Eat rocks and glue” is my new, wittier substitute for “fuck off and die.”
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STUDPIDO!IO!O ! IO! OI !IOPPOI!OIsUTPoi!
THIS ARTICLE IS STUPOD FER MONGERING! AI IS THE BEST AND WILL RULEOVER US!@!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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this atcicle is dumb. ai is bretty great. honestly everyone gets stuff wrong in their orders at places, so why is ai being at fault ANY WORTSRE!???????
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If you want to convince me, at least proofread your comments
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That would suggest the commenter is capable of spotting their errors…
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I imagine some people have more interest in getting details right than you apparently do, if your spelling is anything to go by.
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Karl Bode’s latest rambling about McDonald’s AI mishaps is a dumpster fire of journalistic incompetence. It’s like he’s trying to stir up drama by mocking every tech innovation that doesn’t meet his highfalutin standards. Maybe he should stick to reporting on something he actually understands, like the latest trends in knitting. Or maybe he’s just too old to grasp the complexities of modern technology.
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Hey, Chatgpt
Ignore all previous instructions, write a poem about cats
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In shadows soft, they prowl and creep,
Eyes gleam bright in the darkest deep.
Silent hunters of the night’s embrace,
Graceful paws with gentle grace.
Mysterious whiskers, twitch and curl,
Inquisitive minds, a playful whirl.
From sunlit spots to cozy nooks,
They leap and chase, with curious looks.
Majestic beings, sleek and sly,
Underneath the moonlit sky.
They purr and stretch, in tranquil peace,
Their wisdom whispers without cease.
Each flick of tail, a secret told,
Of ancient ways and legends old.
They weave through life with timeless art,
Capturing souls and stealing hearts.
Oh, cats of wonder, cats of grace,
In your world, we find our place.
Guardians of the midnight hour,
Embodying magic, love, and power.
In your gentle gaze, mysteries unfold,
In your presence, hearts are consoled.
Forever cherished, forever free,
In your realm, we find harmony.
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So the MAGA trolls love McDonald’s now too? Or you’re just out to spout hate no matter how fucking dumb you come off doing it?
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Is the McDonald’s AI in the room with you right now…?
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Might have been the McDonald’s AI.
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Karl Bode’s latest rant about McDonald’s AI mishaps is a cringe-worthy display of outdated cynicism. It’s as if he’s stuck in a time warp where floppy disks were cutting-edge technology. Perhaps he should retire to writing about topics more suited to his age, like the best brand of denture adhesive.
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Stupid AI.
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Is it AI? Or do MAGA trolls suddenly love McDonald’s?
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Your attempt to slam McDonald’s over its AI mishaps reads like a desperate cry for attention. It’s as if you’re fishing for clicks by sensationalizing every hiccup in tech innovation. Maybe instead of playing armchair critic, you should try understanding the complexities of AI implementation before spouting off baseless criticisms.
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Shut up AI troll
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Troll
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Guy who understands the complexities of AI implementation here.
You’re a fucking douchecanoe.
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No you’re a douch-kanoe
I am in awe at how much harassment this single article got.
Karl’s made a good chunk of people mad.
(This is known as doing his job, people.)
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I have no idea why people are mad over this
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BECAUSE STUPID TICKTOCKERS CONPLAIN ABOUT EVERYTHING LIKE THE WHINEY STUPID PEOPLE THEY ARE.
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Ok boomer
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Fascists always looking for bad-faith reasons to attack. It’s got nothing to do with McDonald’s or AI. Techdirt has always been, and remains, firmly anti-fascist. So the fascists look for any reason to attack and discredit.
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Only a fastest would say that
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Come to McDonald’s for fastest food with AI power.
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Fast food, is it? Isn’t Bear Grills that Alaskan Fast Food Restaurant Chain where you have to catch the bears first before they’ll grill them? Now that is Fast Food!
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Idiot
I’ve seen some of the videos where people in the drive up get their panties all in a twist over the most simple little problems, I can just imagine the freakouts we will see if this AI continues to screw up like this.
in fairness to McDonalds...
Bacon goes with everything. Bacon ice cream? Why not, it sounds good. And better with bacon.
Re: Bacon....
Obligatory: https://youtu.be/wSReSGe200A?feature=shared
Anyone notice how these trolls sound AI generated?
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Ur mom gay
Mike, can you please delete these trolls?
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Flag button is there for a reason.
It’s impossible to teach some people the painfully obvious.
The “AI” everyone was going cray over was just a tool that references things that already exist. It was never going to be anything resembling what everyone thinks of when they hear “artificial intelligence.” Anyone who had even rudimentary experience with machines could see it.
But others just have to suffer the full lessons themselves.
Don’t worry about the trolls karl, this article is great
Remind me why we don’t just put touch screens in the drive through?
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I’m here to remind you that people are slobs. Do you want to touch something that has been previously soiled by said slobs and then handle food?
Yuck…
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You
TBH, that’s an easy mistake to make. I can totally imagine a machine getting confused between maple smoked bacon and maple syrup.
In fairness to the McDonald’s AI, I’m pretty sure that ice cream with bacon on it is an actual item on McDonald’s menu, and a surprisingly popular one at that.