McDonald's AI-powered drive-thru ordering systems at multiple locations repeatedly misunderstood customer orders, adding incorrect items like excessive quantities of food, wrong beverages, and unordered condiments, causing customer frustration and order cancellations.
McDonald's has been testing AI-powered voice ordering systems in drive-thru lanes since 2019, with expanded deployment through a partnership with IBM announced in October 2021. The AI system, called Automated Order Taking (AOT), was designed to take customer orders without human involvement at over 100 U.S. locations. Multiple incidents documented on social media showed the AI system making significant ordering errors, including adding 9 sweet teas instead of 1, ringing up $250+ worth of chicken nuggets when customers tried to order smaller amounts, adding butter and ketchup packets instead of ice cream, and incorrectly processing orders from adjacent drive-thru lanes. McDonald's internal data showed the AI achieved only 80% accuracy compared to their target of 95% accuracy. In June 2024, McDonald's announced it was ending its IBM partnership and shutting down the AI tests at all locations. The company stated it would continue pursuing voice AI technology with other vendors. Customer reactions ranged from frustration to laughter, with many customers canceling orders and driving away without purchasing food.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that fail to perform reliably or effectively under varying conditions, exposing them to errors and failures that can have significant consequences, especially in critical applications or areas that require moral reasoning.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed