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Burger King has launched an AI chatbot that monitors whether employees are courteous to customers.
The company’s new voice-enabled chatbot, Patty, runs on employees’ cloud-connected headsets. It’s part of a new platform powered by OpenAI called BK Assistant.
Burger King introduced BK Assistant on Thursday, February 26th. The platform brings artificial intelligence technology to restaurant teams by “unifying point of sale, kitchen equipment, inventory and digital ordering into one command center,” the company said in a news release.
Here’s what you need to know:
Burger King uses AI to track civility
Burger King aggregated and tracked keywords such as “welcome,” “please,” and “thank you” in a limited number of pilot locations to help managers understand overall service patterns, the company said.
In a statement emailed to USA TODAY, Burger King said the chatbot was not deployed to grade individuals or enforce scripts.
“The aim is to enhance hospitality excellence and provide useful, real-time insights to help managers recognize their teams more effectively,” the fast food chain said. “We believe hospitality is fundamentally human, and the role of this technology is to help our teams stay with our guests.”
How else is “Patty” used?
In fact, Burger King said the technology is being used to alert managers to automatically remove items from digital menus and the Burger King app when they are no longer available, to support online questions about menu item preparation and product details without service interruption, and to analyze drive-thru audio to improve order accuracy and provide coaching insights.
The chatbot will be piloted in 500 restaurants by the end of 2026, and BK Assistant’s web and app platform will be available in all U.S. locations by the end of the year.
This isn’t the only measure the company has recently taken to ensure customer satisfaction. In early February, the fast food chain announced that customers could share their thoughts on their experience by calling Burger King President Tom Curtis at (305) 874-0520.
Curtis responds to as many calls as possible each day. A news release announcing the move said all messages received will be reviewed and responded to to help the company make decisions across its business.
Michelle Del Rey is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Please contact mdelrey@usatoday.com.
