New drive-thru study finds Taco Bell is fastest while Chick-fil-A is slowest but ties for top customer satisfaction among 13 fast-food brands.

Next time you're craving a chalupa supreme, you might not be ordering from a person. Taco Bell is expanding its program for using AI voice recognition in drive-thrus. After testing the technology in more than 100 locations in 13 states, the fast food chain's parent company aims to add voice-powered AI capabilities to hundreds more Taco Bell drive-thrus in the US by the end of the year. "With over two years of fine tuning and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we're confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction," said Lawrence Kim, chief innovation officer for Yum! Brands. The company also owns KFC and is currently testing Voice AI in five locations for that chain in Australia. It sounds a little goofy, but in practice, this is an application of AI that people who aren't early adopters might encounter in the wild.

McDonald's is scrapping a trial of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted ordering at select drive-through restaurants after videos of order mix-ups went viral online. The fast food giant's decision to retire the AI-powered voice-ordering system from about 100 outlets comes as restaurant chains rush to embrace the technology to cut back on mounting labour costs. McDonald's launched the pilot in partnership with IBM at a select number of drive-through restaurants in the United States in 2021. Trade publication Restaurant Business first reported the news on Friday. "While there have been successes to date, we feel there is an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly," Mason Smoot, the chief restaurant officer for McDonald's USA, said in an email cited by Restaurant Business.

Brands said it is bringing an "AI-first" mentality to fast food. FAST-FOOD INNOVATIONS: Yum! Brands, the operator of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and The Habit Burger Grill restaurants, is embracing technology with plans for "AI-powered" fast food, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Companies will be making the move toward AI to power their restaurants. CREATIVE INFRINGEMENT: Katy Perry and Miranda Lambert are just some of the more than over 200 names who have signed a letter speaking out for musicians' rights as artificial intelligence continues to expand its reach. POWER SURGE: Global energy demand is projected to surge in coming years amid the growth of artificial intelligence, which requires massive amounts of electricity.

CyberGuy shows you which industries are seeing more and more bots take jobs. Bots and artificial intelligence (AI) are leading this revolution, reinventing traditional roles and reimagining what it means to work in the 21st century. CLICK TO GET KURT'S FREE CYBERGUY NEWSLETTER WITH SECURITY ALERTS, QUICK TIPS, TECH REVIEWS AND EASY HOW-TO'S TO MAKE YOU SMARTER AI is replacing jobs across many sectors, and banking is one of them. The realm of banking has felt the ripple effects of the automation wave. Automation, once associated merely with ATMs, has come a long way.

AI could replace fast food servers and cooks over the next five to 10 years as the industry rapidly develops solutions to improve sales and efficiency, an AI CEO said. Artificial intelligence advances will allow computer kiosks and robots to replace most fast food jobs within five to 10 years, according to an AI entrepreneur. "This is definitely a watershed moment for artificial intelligence," Valyant AI founder Rob Carpenter told Fox News. "We are going to see AI jump from back-office processing and manufacturing facilities to consumer-facing, front-facing, traditionally human-only jobs." Wendy's announced that it's using Google AI technology at an Ohio location.

Kurt "The CyberGuy" has all the details on why you will see more AI and robots working fast food locations. I've been seeing AI pop up everywhere lately, from automatic-driving cars to AI-narrated audiobooks. Now, it looks like the advanced technology is taking over our favorite fast-food chains too, and I'm growing more and more concerned about this taking over yet another sector of American jobs. CLICK TO GET KURT'S CYBERGUY NEWSLETTER WITH QUICK TIPS, TECH REVIEWS, SECURITY ALERTS AND EASY HOW-TO'S TO MAKE YOU SMARTER Wingstop has become the latest fast food restaurant to start using AI bots to take customers' orders. It is joining the likes of some of the most famous fast food chains around, including McDonald's, Taco Bell, Chipotle, Popeye's and Domino's.

McDonald's wants to improve drive-thru speeds -- to help customers, of course, but also in hopes of getting them to show up more often and spend more when they visit. It's the latest move by the fast-food giant in using technology such as artificial intelligence and the introduction of "meat" created from plant protein to drive more business. Earlier this week, the chain unveiled its plans for a better drive-thru experience during an investor update. It's testing express lines for people who place digital orders ahead of time, as well as dedicated pickup spots and automated ordering. The drive-thru has become even more important for restaurant chains during the pandemic, when people want to avoid dining rooms and prefer contactless payment.

The new Xbox Series X video game console will likely be a tough get when it arrives Nov. 10. But Taco Bell is teaming with Microsoft to give away a slew of the new game systems. Microsoft on Wednesday announced that the Xbox Series X game system, priced at $499 would arrive in stores on Nov. 10, the same day as the lower-priced Xbox Series S system ($299, no Blu-ray Disc drive on-board). But Taco Bell has two ways for customers to win an Xbox Series X before it becomes available in stores. Just download the Taco Bell app and join the Taco Bell Rewards Beta program.

Taco Bell has added AI to its mobile app, offering personalized menu suggestions for heavy users ... [ ] (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Artificial intelligence was identified by a number of restaurant tech providers as a top trend for 2020 and, so far, those predictions seem pretty spot on. Up until now, we've seen just a surface scratch of AI's potential in the restaurant space, with chains like Chick-fil-A quietly leveraging the technology to identify food safety issues, and TGI Fridays using it to sell more alcohol, for example. But thanks in large part to McDonald's $300 million investment in Dynamic Yield last March, AI is no longer an under-the-radar experimentation. And now, Taco Bell is making its case for AI, announcing a broader partnership with Certona last week to create a more personalized experience for its mobile app users, of which there are 5 million. Through the technology, machine learning derives the most relevant menu items for app users and also pushes promotions and content based on an individual customer's behavior.