Equally loved and loathed by consumers nationwide, the Panera Bread fast casual chain has announced that it plans to test out artificial intelligence (AI) at its drive-thru windows for some reason. Per a press release, Panera said that starting this week, it'll be testing an AI system made by the hospitality technology company OpenCity that's named "Tori" -- because the whole thing definitely isn't uncanny valley enough, apparently. Tori, the press release says, will be deployed at two Upstate New York locations and will take orders like a real, live person. An actual human will be the one to take customers' money and hand them their food at the window, but Tori will be the one calling the shots, it seems. "The addition of this technology at the drive-thru will help to cut down wait times, improve order accuracy and allow associates to focus on freshly preparing guests' orders," reads Panera's statement.

When you roll up to a McDonald's drive-thru in the near future, you might notice the menu changing while you're ordering to persuade you to buy a few more items. The fast food giant is buying machine learning startup Dynamic Yield for a reported $300 million, and the first stop for the company's AI is the drive-thru window. The system will look at factors such as the weather, time, local events, traffic levels at the restaurant and on nearby roads, historical sales data, currently popular items and even what you're ordering to optimize menu displays at drive-thru windows. It might, for instance, promote the McFlurry or iced coffees on hot days, or suggest simpler items that are faster for employees to prepare if there's a long line. McDonald's tested the AI at several restaurants last year, and executive vice president and global chief information officer Daniel Henry told Wired he expects more than 1,000 locations will be using it within the next three months.

Mention McDonald's to someone today, and they're more likely to think about Big Mac than Big Data. But that could soon change: The fast-food giant has embraced machine learning, in a fittingly super-sized way. McDonald's is set to announce that it has reached an agreement to acquire Dynamic Yield, a startup based in Tel Aviv that provides retailers with algorithmically driven "decision logic" technology. When you add an item to an online shopping cart, it's the tech that nudges you about what other customers bought as well. Dynamic Yield reportedly had been recently valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars; people familiar with the details of the McDonald's offer put it at over $300 million.