Fast food, one of the most relentlessly Taylorised processes in all of labour, is going "AI" apparently. Looks like Taco Bell/Pizza Hut's CTO got promptfondled

all this is framed as "driving sales" so let's look at the concrete uses in the article

Yum’s SuperApp, a mobile app for restaurant managers to track and manage operations—Park calls it “a coach in your pocket”—is testing a generative AI boost, he said. Team members can ask the app questions like “How should I set this oven temperature?” rather than turning to training materials or tapping through an app interface.

a search function, for a manual, that can lie to you

Like its competitors, Yum is testing generative AI’s use for customers, such as voice AI for drive-through orders.

giving customers a shittier interface in order to replace workers

The company is also looking into image-recognition AI to count cars and waiting times in a drive-through, as well as digitally linked and managed kitchen appliances, Park said.

surveillance

so, nothing related to increasing sales. they emphasize that angle because it sounds productive, dynamic, aspirational - but there is no such use case for ai as of yet

"If you think about the major journeys within a restaurant that can be AI-powered, we believe it’s endless."

My dude, you work for Yum Brands, not Starfleet Command. Nobody taking a "major journey" inside a Pizza Hut needed AI help to get there. (Though they could probably use a cup of water, and maybe an Uber home.)

Back in the late 90s tech boom days McDonalds declared that they would sell hamburgers over the Internet. Remember, this was before smartphones, hell it was before Nokia flip phones with rudimentary browser and email. Most people who had internet access at all used it either at work, school or the family computer with dial up modem.

McDonalds' stock price rose by 50%.

I remember it because I thought this was so stupid that it must mean that the bust was near. I was just of years. The market can stay stupid longer than you can believe it, or however it was Keynes put it.