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Welcome to White Castle. Would You Like Human Interaction with That?


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White Castle's Julia chatbot 'mans' the drive-through.

White Castle’s Julia fast-food bot says "gotcha" and "you betcha."

Credit: Heather Haddon/The Wall Street Journal

Fast-food chains like White Castle are deploying artificial intelligence-enabled chatbots in drive-throughs, with restaurant executives claiming the technology can boost efficiency by allowing staff to perform other jobs.

The bots "talk" through drive-through speakers, with the order count displayed on a screen while workers monitoring on headsets prepare to step in if things go wrong.

Across 10 orders on a recent day, three customers at a White Castle in Merrillville, IN, asked to talk to a person because the Julia drive-through chatbot misheard orders or because they preferred human interaction.

California-based Presto Automation is training chatbots for this labor, testing personalization with custom voices.

From The Wall Street Journal
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Abstracts Copyright © 2023 SmithBucklin, Washington, D.C., USA


 

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