Taco Bell expands AI-ordering to hundreds of drive-thrus in the U.S.

Would you like AI with your meal? Because the next time you go to a Taco Bell drive-thru you might be ordering your Crunchwrap Supreme through a voice-activated chatbot. On Wednesday, Yum Brands, which owns Taco Bell announced that it is expanding its Voice AI technology to hundreds of drive-thru locations in the U.S., with the intention of an eventual global rollout. Previously, the Mexican-inspired fast food chain piloted the AI ordering system in 13 states, and now Taco Bell has deemed it ready for primetime. "With over two years of fine tuning and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we’re confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction," said Lawrence Kim, Chief Innovation Officer at Yum! Brands in Taco Bell's announcement. SEE ALSO: The 10 best Taco Bell menu items, ranked In the generative AI era, businesses are clambering to AI-ify their products. But how customers feel about automated systems is still very much up for debate. Generative AI has proven to be lucrative for some things, but not everything. Just this week, Meta axed its celebrity AI personas after low engagement, and Google's AI search summaries got the wrong kind of attention for recommending users do things like put glue on their pizza. Customer service and sales have used automated systems for years, but talking to AI at the drive-thru is fairly new territory. The Taco Bell chatbot builds on the restaurant's existing digital ordering kiosk. Now instead of giving your order to a Taco Bell employee, you'll talk to a bot which relays the information on the screen. Taco Bell said it designed Voice AI to take some of the back-of-house work off of staffers' plates. "Benefits include easing task load for team members, improving order accuracy, providing a consistent, friendly experience, and reducing wait times, while driving profitable growth for Taco Bell, Yum! Brands and their franchisees," said the announcement. Taco Bell did not respond to Mash