McDonald’s is removing artificial intelligence (AI) powered ordering technology from its drive-through restaurants in the US, after customers shared its comical mishaps online.
A trial of the system, which was developed by IBM and uses voice recognition software to process orders, was announced in 2019.
It has not proved entirely reliable, however, resulting in viral videos of bizarre misinterpreted orders ranging from bacon-topped ice cream to hundreds of dollars’ worth of chicken nuggets.
McDonald’s told franchisees it would remove the tech from the more than 100 restaurants it has been testing it in by the end of July, as first reported by trade publication Restaurant Business.
There is so much wrong with this word-like jumble of letters.
Thru was a legit spelling of thurh before through came along, and although it’s now considered informal, it’s commonly used on road signs because it’s compact, and “drive-thru” is considered a legitimate use. Doesn’t confuse meaning or pronunciation, either.
Now, the “greengrocer’s apostrophe” being used for a plural is a perfectly reasonable gripe. Can easily confuse meaning, and wasteful of a space/character!
Wait how is ‘thru’ a word-like jumble of letters but ‘through’ is fine?
For someone so interested in language, it’s baffling to me that you don’t seem to understand how language works. People have been laughing at stupid prescriptivists since words have been written down.
Or do you just have a humiliation fetish?