With the presence of artificial intelligence becoming more and more apparent as time goes on, they are likely to be introduced throughout most industries. The fast food industry is no exception to this. Companies are already starting to produce and implement robots that have the capability of flipping burgers, making fried food, work in assembly lines, as well as many other key roles in a fast food environment.
Positive Impacts
- Production of high quality food while minimizing human error
- Cuts labor costs/combats the rising labor costs and inflation
- Advancements in technology allow these robots to be "human like" in terms of the food they create
- Speeds up the food preparation time
- Take over some of the more dangerous kitchen tasks
- Allows workers to focus on other tasks
Conclusion
It is clear that the capabilities of these robots are highly useful in a fast food setting. And with the list of capabilities likely to continue to grow over the years it may be hard to for-see a future where AI does not exist in a fast food setting. However, major corporations should highly consider whether the implementation of AI is truly a good thing with the lack of customer interaction, the possibility of customer information being leaked, and the unemployment issue that it may cause. At the end of the day if a customer has good experiences at a business they are likely to return to that business. With that being said if a company can figure out how to implement these robots in an effective way, they can decently be a useful tool within fast food restaurants.
References
https://datainnovation.org/2021/06/demonizing-how-fast-food-companies-use-ai-wont-help-consumers/
https://www.qsrmagazine.com/outside-insights/are-artificially-intelligent-employees-future-fast-food
https://www.reuters.com/technology/want-fries-with-that-robot-makes-french-fries-faster-better-than-humans-do-2022-10-04/
https://www.businessinsider.com/Fast-food-robots-chipotle-white-castle-panera-2022-4#flippy-manages-the-fryer-station-allowing-back-of-house-fast-food-workers-to-focus-on-other-tasks-9
Credits:
Created with images by Gorilla - "Homemade crispy Potato Fries with grain Salt flying ingredients. Fry delicious snack on retro copper background." • hin255 - "Multiple type of Fast food" • Pixel-Shot - "Young waiters in restaurant, closeup" • Grafvision - "Fresh tasty burger"