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Wendy’s New Drive-Thru Employee Is an AI Chatbot

The company’s CEO expects the move to be “very conversational.”

Wendy’s drive-thru customers could soon be giving their orders to an AI-powered chatbot instead of a human being. On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the fast food franchise would implement software developed by Google at one of its restaurants in Columbus, Ohio, in June. Wendy’s CEO hopes the chatbot will help to cut drive-thru waiting times. “It will be very conversational,” Todd Penegor told the Journal, but said customers “won’t know you’re talking to anybody but an employee.” The AI has been specially trained to recognize terms and phrases specific to the Wendy’s menu, so that it understands that someone asking for a “JBC” wants a junior bacon cheeseburger, for instance. Kevin Vasconi, Wendy’s chief information officer, praised the technology’s performance in test runs at the Columbus restaurant conducted over recent months. “It’s at least as good as our best customer service representative, and it’s probably on average better,” Vasconi said.