As an avid advocate of using AI and voice recognition capabilities, I was thrilled to see today that McDonald’s purchased Apprente a voice recognition, Voice-to-Meaning company to personalize the customer experience while going through drive thru stations.

This means that instead of looking the entire menu, depending on time of day and various situations, the appropriate and more pleasing menus will be displayed. This follows two additional tech purchases by McDonald’s recently, with now two AI acquisitions under McDonald’s belt. I say, “About time, right?” Using technology to begin to anticipate consumer needs and enhance our experiences is key in the fast food industry and all industries. This will also mean that by understanding the data, McDonald’s and other franchises will begin to see what consumers like. For example: If midday more salads are being ordered, why not offer a wider salad variety ? If non-beef burgers are a hit, let’s expand that menu. Ultimately, the opportunity is to improve the consumer experience. Do to drive-thru’s what Amazon did with Prime!

Of course, this is really about intelligent voice recognition, not sure if it is true AI implementation. So, a bit concerned about the broad use of the term AI here. Secondly, perhaps where we should be careful is with how far we are willing to push this boundary? We don’t want our license plates and information be analyzed via voice recognition and to be known when we don’t want to be known, right? Intruding on our privacy is a concern for sure, however, very likely we can reach a point where our food will be ready quickly, experiences enhanced and hey, what if my credit card was charged without needing to waste time at the second window?

Great possibilities but we do need to be mindful to do is carefully and correctly. More on this soon. I am also thrilled about their innovation center in the Bay Area. Yes, let’s disrupt to innovate!

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