Artificial Intelligence Takes Over Drive-Thru Orders At This Fast-Food Restaurant

Today, the warning is that no low-skilled job is safe from being displaced by automation and artificial intelligence. For example, humans taking orders at drive-thru lines at fast-food restaurants are being replaced with an automated system.

Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken in Englewood, Ohio, beginning this week, will be using “artificial intelligence to take orders of customers passing through the drive-thru,” according to local television station WHIO-TV. 

The automated drive-thru ordering system developed by Hi Auto uses “artificial intelligence” to greet and take orders from customers. 

Andrea Newport, the spokesperson for Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, said, “employees in the restaurant will be able to listen to every transaction through existing headsets and intervene in case an issue arises during the order process.”

Far Hills Development, LLC operates the Englewood location and 12 other locations around Ohio. The company believes artificial intelligence will alleviate staffing problems due to the virus pandemic. 

… and this is creepy.

“The technology also can be scaled to include video and recognize license plates and greet regular customers by name and know their favorite menu items,” Newport said.

Technological unemployment is set to soar as robots and artificial intelligence are replacing jobs faster than ever due to the virus pandemic. The pandemic has created a strong incentive to automate the workplace. In pandemics, machines and computers don’t catch infections. 

This all suggests that on top of the millions of jobs lost to the pandemic, there will be increasing jobs lost to robots, driving technological unemployment higher. 

For governments – now question now remains: What to do with the millions of people without jobs? Retrain them of usher in universal basic income?