Dairy Queen is putting an AI chatbot in its drive-thrus
TL;DR
Dairy Queen is becoming the latest fast food chain to get in on AI, as it's bringing a chatbot to dozens of its drive-thrus across the US and Canada.
Key Points
- It aims to help speed up drive-thru service and "encourage customers to add more food to their orders," according to The Wall Street Journal.
- Following a test last year, Dairy Queen is widely launching the tech built by Presto, an AI company that already works with chains like Carl's Jr.
- , Hardee's, Taco John's, and Fazoli's.
- In 2023, a report from Bloomberg revealed that Presto's AI drive-thrus may actually be assisted by human workers based in locations like the Philippines.
Nauti's Take
AI drive-thrus can genuinely reduce wait times — other chains have shown this. But the full-automation claim deserves scrutiny: if human workers are quietly backing up the system from offshore, the marketing outpaces the tech.
For fast-food chains this is a productivity play; for workers, it is worth watching as a job displacement signal.
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