Burger King will use AI to check if employees say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’
https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/884911/burger-king-ai-assistant-pattyOpen linkView original on reddthat.com450
Comments116https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/884911/burger-king-ai-assistant-pattyOpen linkView original on reddthat.com
They haven’t had my business in years. Too bad I can’t extra avoid them.
Same. The number of boycotts I can't join because I was already avoiding the company is really saddening lately
Do you know of a reputable list of decent companies I can look for in the US as a leftist? I am kind of feeling like a doomer these days.
I've ranted about it before but I feel like every organization is awful or is on the precipice of either becoming awful or being acquired/obliterated by an awful competitor.
Most times I've recently needed something I've felt like literally every option of company was terrible and I don't have the energy for it anymore.
I sometimes check this app. I am not sure if it's still valid and up to date but it helps sometimes for the bigger names.
Goods Unite Us
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goodsuniteus.goods
Why is this an app? All it needs to be is a text file.
You have become the very thing you swore to destroy!
It's
turtlesgrifts all the way down.probably because no one is going to update a text file reliably.
bro has never heard of html
The other week I replied to some commenter that thought that JavaScript was the only way we sites worked. No clue about hyperlinks or forms or anything.
Oh good lord I wish. If you find one I'd love a link too
Now it's your time to say 'If everyone were like me...'
I go there only because they are the cheapest of the three places I can go to get lunch from work. I would never advocate for them though. The entire experience is ass from the service to the food.
Besides that if you need ai to monitor your people to make sure they're being polite you've already lost. Maybe work on making working there not an absolutely miserable experience.
Have you considered that might be part of why they're the cheapest?
It's only cheapest because I order a la carte. Their combos are as much as anyone else's.
Great call management, that'll make your food taste better.
Seriously, that's the easiest fast food chain boycott.
I literally have not stepped inside of a BK in over 10 years. Not for ethical or boycott reasons. I just got tired of having stomach pain every time I ate there. They have the worst food of any restaurant fast or not. Their fries left a weird waxy dry taste in my mouth and their “burgers” felt like a stack of wet paper towels.
How people can still eat there is mind boggling.
I liked their fried fries tbh, not that they were that great but I enjoyed them. Otherwise, it felt like the cheapest fast food out there.
Same, I've been once maybe 10 years ago, and it confirmed that going to A&W is always the right call :)
Why not just have the AI say please and thank you at every possible opportunity on a loudspeaker?
If an AI can scam old people out of their retirement I dont understand how the drive through attendant isn't just replaced with an AI yet. I know easy to trick and all that but that's the one job most people hate at fast food. Add like 5 speakers so people can place 5 orders at once and then have the person go to work making food instead of taking orders.
Oh they're trying. Experiments have made so many mistakes.
I saw a story recently where a guy spent some time with a customer service chatbot, and ended up convincing it to give him 80% off, and then ordered like $6000 of stuff.
LLMs just don't produce reliable/predictable output, it's much easier for the user to get them to go off the rails.
Aren't there also tons of studies and math that show/prove they cant differentiate between instructions (e.g. from the company) vs data (e.g. that guy's messages)?
Yes, I believe that is the case.
Of course in any other application, keeping instructions and data separate is very important. Like an SQL injection attack is when you're able to sneak instructions in where data is supposed to go, and then you can just delete the entire database, if you want. But with LLMs the distinction doesn't exist.
McDonald's briefly had an AI run their drive thru. Apparently it got a lot of complaints, but honestly it massively improved my local McDonald's order accuracy and speed. It was significantly better than the extremely shitty employees they normally have working the line.
Underpaid and mistreated employees don't make for employees that go above and beyond.
Taco Bell had it, too. I have never actually completed a purchase with an AI.
Years ago, I adopted a personal policy of driving off as soon as a restaurant attempted to upsell. The Taco Bell AI always attempted to upsell me. 100% reliable on that offensive behavior. But what really and truly pissed me off was that even if I told it "No" or remained silent to its query, it always added the item to my order.
I'm happy to tank their KPIs as "reward" for their AI bullshit.
Taco Bell has already automated the drive though orders at a number of locations. The staff still have to listen to the conversation to make sure the AI agent doesn't go off the rails. I bet they've got some fun stories
Walking past a Taco Bell it seems someone competent implemented the system—seems to understand people just as well as the best software I’m aware of can.
Because AI is more likely to say "fuck you" and then rant about how the Holocaust wasn't real.
I might even submit myself to eat the disgusting slop Burger King sells just to hear that every now and then.
Hurray for the increasing creep of the surveillance industry!
Employees will be much happier having their every word monitored to ensure the right amount of flair!
“Welcome to Costco, I love you”
That’s it! I’m going to Carl’s Jr instead.
Fuck you, I’m eating!
Can we stop at Starbucks on the way?
I don't think we have time for a hand job, Joel
You didn’t even say thank you.
Say thank you for what? Listen if it comes out naturally for some reason it's fine, but the forced thank you, please, my pleasure, yessir, yes right this way master, etc etc is cringe af.
Turns out, the major use case for AI is surveillance analysis for those who don't care too much about false positives.
I don't recall ever caring in the slightest if an employee says "please" or "thank you". Of course I like politeness, but those terms aren't necessary for it.
I prefer to be the one saying please and thank you. They're providing a service to me, not the other way around. As for my money, we both know most of it is going to the owner.
They could say "fuck you die" and as long as they didn't spit in my food I wouldn't give the slightest shit. I came for a burger not useless platitudes.
I'd prefer no undue hostility, but if they said something like "I'm not in the mood to be polite today" I'd totally understand. I just want be make sure it's nothing I'm doing wrong.
I don't want to be recorded when I order food. Your employee may have signed an agreement. I didn't.
agreements like that should be illegal
They are! But we live in interesting times.
Even more horrifying: employees are forced to wear headsets that constantly whisper BS in their ear while surveiling them.
This sounds like the kind of thing that will simultaneously induce paranoid delusions while also kind of validating them. Don't service workers go through enough already?!
I hate living in a dystopian novel.
Good news! We're not living in a dystopian novel, we're living in all the dystopian novels at once!
That sounds like something from a 40k novel.
[…]
Manna – Two Views of Humanity’s Future – Marshall Brain
the people who don’t know what’s it like to work in the service industry will get mad when someone doesn’t thank them. Those people deserve soggy food.
I used to work in the service industry. Holy crap, do I end up extra nice to anyone dealing with the public.
I suppose it's my service industry persona coming out in a way. But I'll be extra patient, extra kind, use the name on their name tag, ask how their day is, do basic banter. Just generally be happy to interact with them.
I don't think I've ever met a service industry person who liked it when their name was used by someone they didn't know personally. It certainly made me uncomfortable.
Yeah when my name is used by a customer, even in a positive context (unless they are talking to someone else to say how good I was), I assume they are going to use my name to harm my job in some way. Don't think that is too unreasonable in today's service industry.
Definitely had a few customers who we both know our names and are actually interested in chatting. But it's like 1/1000.
Especially because the fucking corps have made it so easy to do by accident. They want to gush about my service, but give me 4/5 stars because "nobody's perfect", and I can get dinged for it. They want to praise me for taking extra time with them, and corporate might hear that I'm exceeding my allotted time per customer.
It's bullshit.
How much are they paying for this privilege? I cannot see this being worth any investment.
Normal software can do this. Doesn’t need to be ai.
But normal software doesn't make line go up 3000%, you understand
How much you want to bet it’s just normal software branded as ai?
Just a few tweaks
Why would you want something that is simple, energy-efficient, fast, and reliable... when you can use AI and have none of those things?
Please go fuck yourself. Thank you.
That should meet the requirements.
Possibly one of the worst workplace uses for AI. Dystopian 100%.
Gross
BKs biggest problem isn't customer service, it's the fact that it costs 50 fucking dollars or more to feed a family a single, low-quality meal.
If they want to survive, they need to dramatically cut costs, not dump millions into expensive AI tools that are going to increase employee turnover rates and waste even more money.
Employees being polite isn't going to convince anyone that paying an extra $2.50 for a burger is worth it.
I bet the franchise owners are forced to purchase and use the AI.
Repeat the required phrase, worker!
AI is the new "blockchain"
Literally there's no need for AI to do that sort of surveillance
In that both are meaningless and are being used as tools to sucker the rubes (yet again).
They should make it so that the customer says please and thank you instead. They're literally the one's asking for the service. I think its only polite, personally.
I've been pushing to implement a "stupid bitch fee" for repeat offenders.
When the customer asks "what the hell is this 20% surcharge on my bill?!", employees are required to tell them that it's "an extra fee for having to deal with your stupid bitch ass".
Then, the carrot: "If you start acting right, we might consider removing your stupid bitch fee at a later time, pending approval."
The frontline employee would of course receive a large cut of the fee, say 75-80%, with the rest going to the business.
This would obviously be a win for everyone.
Stupid bitches always seem to come back, so this could be a reliable income stream for any business with a stupid bitch problem, which is most of them.
I made my pitch to several area businesses, but I haven't heard back yet.
Putting aside the shitty micromanagement, why does this require AI? There are plenty of simple transcription softwares, especially if you're just monitoring for keywords, that would be infinitely cheaper.
Yeah but it would take some amount of skill to set that up. With AI you can ask it how many times an employee said "please" and "thank you" and it will give an answer.
Of course the answer may be just made up, but you don't care, you provide the numbers to your boss and get bonus points for being hip to the new AI tech. Your boss doesn't care because the numbers all go into a database which another AI will "analyze" and the company can say they are a data driven AI native company and billionaires buy more shares. They don't really care either because at some point when they all see each other at whatever is the present day version of Epstein Island and they'll all decide to all short AI all at once. They make money on everything with AI hype when the stock go up and they'll make more when the whole thing crashes.
You just gotta understand how the tech business works!
As someone with experience in hospitality: you know what? Use it. But not on the staff, but on the customer. +15% price and fat tips automatically if they don't say either. God, I hate rude people.
Yeah, because the main thing keeping me from eating at Burger King is whether or not the employees greet me and use “please” and “thank you.” That’s the hard line they keep failing, absolutely.
I get the strong impression the company already sunk costs into AI (as so many others did) and this was just an idea brought up to justify it retroactively.
Surely micromanaging your employees will turn the company around...
Gross, I will continue not eating at BK
I'm 99% sure that this won't be used for that, but to bust unions and union attempts.
Of course this will boost the profit by a huge margin
They haven't already replaced all their employees with kiosks?
I assume the employees in the kitchen have to yell pelase and thank you after someone orders through the kiosk.
Like the places where everyone has to yell welcome when someone enters. I turn around and go somewhere else when that happens.
Let me say as a European who only visited the U.S. once decades ago... Every time I entered a shop or restaurant there would be a stream of staff saying 'Have a nice day'... this was so fucking weird and annoying because
a) I'm in a fucking Subway in fucking Bellend, Utah b) I'm here for work c) Fuck me, my client just said grace for the shitiest sandwich I've ever tasted. Seriously, this thing tasted more of iron fillings than chicken Caesar. d) The people saying this clearly didn't give a shit about my day, not that I blame them
America is so strange to me...
To be fair, Bellend, Utah (i.e. Mormon country) is kinda the worst-case scenario for that sort of weirdness.
The issue is that studies show that friendliness will improve business through retention. It's cheaper to fake friendliness than it is to actually build an environment where people give a shit.
It's along the same lines as retail establishments who force their employees to stand because it makes them look more professional/busier/more hard working. Instead of either letting retail employees sit down (especially cashiers, what the fuck?) or giving them something meaningful to do that isn't cleaning the same square foot of floor or rearranging because you're tired of seeing your workers happy and want to force customers to look in a different place every time they walk in, you force them to look busy. They're building a cargo cult of management.
This isn't friendliness, this is creepiness and I really doubt even Americans are falling for this bullshit. If they do, then I'm really don't understand the American psyche.
Americans aren't falling for it. We range from "I don't give a shit" to "Let them poor workers just fucking work, man". Middle managers who want to look like they're doing something and store managers who believe they are the Lord and Master of their little fiefdoms do though.
No sushi for you then, huh?
Ok, that is the one exception.
If they’re wearing headsets I’m assuming it’s for the employees working the drive-thru
No Kings!
No Clowns!
Hand me a salad!
Lettuce dismantle this fascist regime!
The less professional and more stoned sounding the fast food worker, the more I'm willing to go to a place.
If you're gonna pay minimum wage your employees should at least be vibin.
Soon enough, Burger-G will be a thing,
https://marshallbrain.com/manna1
Some Burger King executive read this and said "A punny AI name, I like that! We should make one called Patty, get it?"
And then they did.
Corporations suck. They give people shitty jobs at shitty pay with shitty schedules with the knowledge that the people taking those jobs have few choices so they can be controlled, and the corporations control them as hard as they can. From how they dress to how they speak to not letting people sit for the duration of their shift.
Finally, a use for AI worthy of the massive investment we've all had to make....
Burger King is toilet food
Cool, I won't ever eat there again. Too easy. Thanks for saving me some money BK. I'll have it my way after all.
They should force their employees to say sorry instead over how bland their food tastes
Maybe they should pay their employees a living wage. Because their investors have taken that share from working people in this sector they can't imagine giving it back, even as it wouldn't affect the prices they charged if they just reduced profit margins to what it used to be since before the War on Poverty was won by the Rich.
hmmm how do I boycott since I already don't eat here?
You already did it! Congratulations.
Ask your senators to stop subsidizing them with your tax dollars.
Though it was MacDonalds that lobbied for it, BK benefits too. Boycotting isn't enough.
But there isn't even a need to say please and thank you?
Like, you order on the touch screen, you go to the counter when your number pops up and they hand you the bag ... no words are required at all. I don't even take my headphone off any more.
I’m assuming it’s for the employees on the drive-thru; they’re already wearing headsets
Could be the drive through
An ai check to make sure they look at the extras and add the cheese I paid for?
How much money is spent on the AI for this?
Just have a manager with a headset so they can hear what's happening.
paywalled.
Is this before or after the last BK closes?