Burger King will use AI to check if employees say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’

Burger King is launching an AI chatbot that will live in the headsets used by employees. The voice-enabled chatbot, called “Patty,” is part of an overarching BK Assistant platform that will not only assist employees with meal preparation but also evaluate their interactions with customers for “friendliness.”

Thibault Roux, Burger King’s chief digital officer, tells The Verge that the company compiled information from franchisees and guests on how to measure friendliness, resulting in the fast food chain training its AI system to recognize certain words and phrases, such as “welcome to Burger King,” “please,” and “thank you.” Managers can then ask the AI assistant how their location is performing on friendliness. “This is all meant to be a coaching tool,” Roux says, adding that the company is “iterating” on capturing the tone of conversations as well.

The OpenAI-powered Patty serves as the “voice” of the BK Assistant platform, which combines data across drive-thru conversations, kitchen equipment, inventory, and other areas of the Burger King business. Employees can ask Patty questions, such as how many strips of bacon to put on a Maple Bourbon BBQ Whopper, or for instructions on how to clean the shake machine.

Because it’s integrated with the new cloud point-of-sale system, the AI assistant will also alert managers if a machine is down for maintenance or when an item is out of stock. “Within 15 minutes, the entire ecosystem will remove it from stock — whether you’re walking into a restaurant to order from the kiosk, whether you’re going to the drive-thru, the digital menu board will be updated,” Roux says.

Burger King may be building a chatbot into employees’ headsets, but it doesn’t seem like the brand is ready to widely launch AI drive-thrus just yet — something we’ve seen chains like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell attempt. “We’re tinkering with it, we’re playing around with it, but it’s still a risky bet,” Roux says. “Not every guest is ready for this.” He adds that the company is currently testing the AI drive-thru technology in fewer than 100 restaurants.

Burger King plans on launching its BK Assistant web and app platform to all restaurants in the US by the end of 2026, while Patty is piloting in 500 restaurants.