Burger King will use AI to monitor employee 'friendliness'
TL;DR
Burger King, the chain that leans into creepy when others don't dare, is at it again. The Verge reported on Thursday that the company is rolling out a new voice-controlled AI chatbot for its workers. That may sound like business as usual in 2026, but this assistant doesn't just help with meal prep and monitor inventory. It also has an unsettling habit of surveilling employees' voices for "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.
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Summary
Burger King, the chain that leans into creepy when others don't dare, is at it again. The Verge reported on Thursday that the company is rolling out a new voice-controlled AI chatbot for its workers.
That may sound like business as usual in 2026, but this assistant doesn't just help with meal prep and monitor inventory. It also has an unsettling habit of surveilling employees' voices for "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.
Sources