Burger King will use AI to monitor employee 'friendliness'

"The voice-controlled chatbot will live inside employees' headsets. The company said the AI is trained to recognize when its low-paid workers utter phrases like 'welcome to Burger King,' 'please' and 'thank you.' Managers can then keep tabs on their location's 'friendliness' performance."

"This is meant to be a coaching tool,' Thibault Roux, Burger King's chief digital officer, told The Verge. However, he added that the company is also 'iterating' the system to detect tone in conversations."

"The OpenAI-powered assistant's other duties sound potentially useful (and decidedly less creepy). It can answer workers' meal prep questions, like how many strips of bacon to put on burgers or instructions for cleaning the shake machine. It's also integrated into the chain's point-of-sale system, so it can tell managers when items are out of stock or machines are down."

Burger King is rolling out a new voice-controlled AI chatbot called 'Patty' for its workers, powered by OpenAI. The assistant operates within employee headsets and performs multiple functions: it helps with meal preparation questions, monitors inventory, and integrates with point-of-sale systems to alert managers about stock shortages or equipment failures. Most notably, the chatbot surveils employees' voices for 'friendliness' by recognizing specific phrases like 'welcome to Burger King,' 'please,' and 'thank you.' Managers can track their location's friendliness performance metrics. The company frames this as a coaching tool, though executives indicate plans to expand the system to detect conversational tone. The pilot program currently operates in 500 restaurants, with full rollout to all US locations planned by end of 2026.

Read at Engadget