Submitted 8 hours ago by UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/884911/burger-king-ai-assistant-patty
The company compiled information from franchisees and guests on how to measure friendliness, resulting in the fast food chain training its AI system to recognize certain words and phrases, such as “welcome to Burger King,” “please,” and “thank you.” Managers can then ask the AI assistant how their location is performing on friendliness.
Not like I was going to burger king anyway but this is a solid reason not to
I wish I could explain to companies how fucking awkward and horrible it feels to be on the receiving end of forced gratitude. Even if I liked the restaurant, I wouldn’t be able to go if they did this.
I guess it’s no surprise that rich people think the experience is still the same with or without the consent of the providing party.
They don’t care. They only care about like go up.
They’re hoping to phase out human employees ASAP.
So…instead of AI doing the work…AI is going to be the Boss?
Fuck. That.
And middle managers everywhere don’t see the writing on the wall somehow.
Thing is, I’m sure they do. But they’re middle management so they can’t do shit about it. Executives that think this stupid shit up have their heads so far up their ass they don’t understand how incredibly dumb their ideas for what AI does actually are.
This is going to be the boring dystopia we all experience.
My SO works at a callcenter and they get dinged for the use of what they call “tragic phrases.” These include, but aren’t limited to:
Its fucking ridiculous. They pay some outside vendor for training and guidelines.
As a customer, I would feel much more comfortable talking to someone who doesn’t sound like they have a gun to their head.
In my younger days, I worked for U-Haul. They had these preloaded speeches you were supposed to adhere to when someone called. I am sure they felt it maximized sales. One for trailer/truck rental, another for storage, etc. I never liked acting as a robot, so I free-formed the calls (I’m a people person!). I was/and am quite customer focused, so I was good at answering the phone. Up until I got fired for not following the canned company diatribe. They had a call center dedicated to calling around the country to test employees. I failed twice.
God dam, that’s horrible. Unfortunately it’s not my department but I should let you know your not alone, now hold on a sec while I transfer you to purgatory
I’m so glad I can mouth off to customers in my line of work, not that I abuse the privilege but sometimes a customer needs to be told they are a fucking idiot and they could of flooded or burnt the place down.
non-commitment like “I can’t do that” or “that’s against policy” or “that’s not my dept”
Ok, I’m not a native English speaker but… I have the feeling that they don’t know what non-commitment means. Unless it’s commitment to fuck the customer, but then, why bother to offer a call center?
I’ve come to accept that “no problem” is just some people’s way to say “you’re welcome” but I still really dislike the sound of it right after I say thank you for something completely normal.
Cashier: “Here’s your change.” Me: “Thank you.” Cashier: “No problem.” My brain: “Oh… I didn’t even think it could have been a problem to hand me my change, but I guess I’m glad to hear that it was not in fact any problem.”
Please do not, that’s disgusting, thank you.
This is the worst timeline. 1984 was a warning not an instruction manual.
I’m currently watching Handmaid’s Tale for the first time (the show, not the movie. I haven’t seen the movie). I’ve never read the book either so no spoilers please. Anyway, it’s eerie how many things are lining up. Like you said, supposed to be a warning, not a guidebook.
I went to Wendy’s the other day, and they have this automatic pre-recorded English-fluent woman cheerfully ask for your order. While an actual person didn’t indicate that they were ready, I know they won’t do a second intro message either way, so I started to order. A heavy spanish accent comes over the speaker “Fucking wait, god.” My only thought was “Fair enough” and I waited.
Whoever implements these systems is crazy. We don’t pay people enough to be policed that heavily.
That’s a very generous reaction to being cussed at for following instructions. I have no problem being asked to wait. I actually appreciate having someone acknowledge that I’m there by telling me to wait. But damn. Keep it classy.
The first time I went to Wendy’s and it ran into that AI thing I complained to the manager, politely because I know it’s not their fault, but I just wanted to make my dislike of it known for them to tell their higher ups or whatever. She did say that you can just ask for a human. But I did make sure to be very clear that I was wasn’t just being a Karen.
Is this why I can’t buy a steam machine?
I used to work for a consultancy that tried to bill themselves as experts in VR/AR. This is back in 2017 or so. We helped a client make a 3D tracking system with VR/AR applications, and this client let us kind of run with it.
Anyway, I was sort of head of this AR/VR thing, and we were always desperate for free advertising, so I somehow got pulled to provide my thoughts on the impact of VR/AR on the grocery store for an article in “The Grocer” or some kind of industry mag.
Leading up to the call, I was trying to think of what I’d say. My thoughts were on building out virtual grocery stores to test customer reactions before building them for real. Bring in some test subjects, see how they plan their route, how they react to different placements of goods. Track their eye movements to see if the new end-cap design is working. Time how long they spend in the store, etc. I got the idea from another client who was using VR to test out new detergent bottle concepts (apparently a one-off of a blow-molded bleach bottle is crazy expensive).
Well my consultancy had been purchased by a multinational conglomerate a year or so prior, so I got a phone call from some C-suite ass who wanted to brief me on what they wanted me to say to the magazine.
His idea was a service where you could have a store employee wear some kind of camera rig so the customer could sit at home in VR and pilot the employee around the store. This would essentially replace curbside pickup, but with the added benefit of “allowing the customer to pick which apple they want out of the bunch.”
I resolved to ignore that advice, but the whole magazine thing ended up falling through anyway. I quit within the year.
Not that I would ever go in a BK, but if I hear that shit, I am going to assume it’s sarcasm and that’s going to ruin my day.
I am in there for a burger. The employees are there for their paycheck. As long as I can order one, I don’t care if they did little more than grunt as a reply.
Also that sounds a bit humiliating and demeaning. I really don’t care for this…
“Go fuck yourself, please”.
As if that were the reason people don’t go to Burger King
The last time I had BK that wasn’t trash was at the Honolulu airport, that was October 2024 and I think I’ve stopped at BK once since and it was horrible. Not to mention Canadian sizes are much much smaller it seems. Like fuck I used to buy the chicken sandwichs and now they are like half the size and the chickens shit
They’re not supposed to put chicken shit on the sandwich unless you specifically request it.
why don’t they focus on fixing their cold soggy fries and shit-tier “burgers” first
Can’t speak to the burgers as I only ever order chicken fries from BK, but I will argue that their French fries have a more forgiving edible temperature range than McD or Wendy’s. Still wouldn’t eat 'em room temperature.
Costs a looot less money to order a wage slave around and tell shareholders everything’s gonna be better now.
No one asked for this
It’s the C-suite. They’re so corporatized they can’t differentiate between an over-the-top professional smile and somebody being genuinely helpful.
The capitalists running everything did
“Im sorry Sylvia we’re going to have to let you go. You didn’t say ‘thank you’ enough.
It says here you were obsessed with someone named ‘Hank Ewe’. Absolutely deplorable. “
FORCING Minimum Wage workers to say Please and Thank You will ENSURE that their FOOD QUALITY will go UP while Prices go Affordable!
Cargo cult happiness.
I regret choosing the red pill; this reality is getting worse and worse. Can I go back to the 90s Matrix?
Can I go back to the 90s Matrix?
I’ve g̵o̴t̴ ̷ s̴̗̺͕͝o̴̜͐̊̇m̷̨͍͍͠e̴̹̕ ̵̡̿ ę̷͕̣͂̆̅r̵̡̪̈͂́̄̔͠r̶͍̲̤̀̏͋͑í̵̹̼̮̩͈̰̊͌͂b̴̯̎̎̅̕ļ̶̘͓̍ē̶̥̺̥̓̉̈͆͘̚n̸͚̳͉̫̪̣͔̬̈́̀̄̉̂̊͆̾̍̀͝ę̴͚͔̺̮̤̺̰͈̖̉̀̃̄̏̾͛ŵ̶̪͓͓͇̥̮̠̩̼̙̻̰͠s̸̼͖̬̦̟̝͊́̓́ ̷̡̨̢̫̖͔͚̻͙̩̈́̆͛̾̿̓̏͑̀̊̈ ̵̺̹͙̼̮̹͍̗̱͇̪͈͑͛̅͜͜f̶̣͊͂̾̾̈͝ǫ̶̛͇̥̖͓̦̳͇̩͙̩͑̇̾̇͊̋͌̇̍̃̏̈́͛̕ͅr̶͚͇̄ͅ ̴̌̋̓̄͊͂͋̈̀̇͐̀͘̕ ̷̡̨̖̺̫͈̪̫̲̩̘͉͚̗̳̖̜̗̣̭̩̩͕̙̯̦͔̟̠̝̣͎̝͍͇̝̅ͅỳ̷̨̛̛̤̹̖̞̙̺̮͇̳̙̤̟̘̦̙̃̄́̄̂̃̊̂̈́̿͛̇̍̀̌̍̎̊͑͗̆̔͘̚̕̕͝ͅơ̴̢̛͇͓̗͍͙̮̲̣̳͖͉͕̳̹̤̩̜̥͔̲̘̩̳̱̩͙̹̝̾͋͐̿͋̀͗̏̀͂͊͗̋̽͐̀̕͜͜͝ǔ̵̡͚͎̗͈̞̱͖̖͎̬̱̜̲͖͈̳̼̥͎́̊̊͐̀͑̈̀̍̂͋͐͆͒̚̕͘͘ͅ.̵̨̨̢̢̨͍̦̻̼̖̩̮̱̣̭̲̼͈̱̭̭͇̺͈̠̲̬̭͍͎̝̮͕̳͕͙̳̺͔̗̪̖̳̙̯͖̥̈́̿͌̌͊̽̈́̈́͛͋̏́̉̊͂̑̄͂̄̈̌͐͆̍̐͒̿̂͘͜͝͝ͅͅͅ
Oh hey, that’s almost exactly the kind of cyberpunk dystopia that I grew up reading fiction about:
Came here for the Manna reference! Look at us, we’re in the future now!
No Kings!
!aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
Computer, how many R’s in “thank you?”
This’ll turn out great, for sure.
artificial authoritarianism in action!
They cant keep staff as it is, so this?
You could make Burger King nearly infinitely better by PUTTING THE CHEESE ON THE BURGER TO MELT, YOU PRIMITIVES
That’s stupid. They use use AI to say please and thank you for their employees.
“Welcome to Burger King where you r-PLEASE… Would you like to try our THANK YOU”
Welcome to Costco, I love you
Cool, so AI will be replacing the managers first.
IIRC Burger King was one of, if not the first companies to use computerized inventory/bookkeeping. And they used it to try and crack down on employees giving away extra food. It was a giant waste of money.
jj4211@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Pro tip to BK: I probably wouldn’t even notice the lack of ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. I would, however, be significantly happier if you stopped making them say “You Rule”. Seems like they have to say it as both greeting and a “your order is finished”. It’s just unpleasantly cringey.
zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 1 hour ago
If they want to lean more into the branding, they should do something like make the BK uniforms more regal. I’m thinking flowing robes, little plastic crowns, that sort of thing.