<\/p>\n
MORE: McDonald\u2019s forced into surprise retreat<\/a><\/p>\n On Thursday, Macca\u2019s new \u201cdedicated order assistant\u201d, powered by Google\u2019s Gemini AI chatbot, was switched on for the lunch rush for the first time.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my job to make sure the crew can focus on preparing your order, but bear with me as I\u2019m still learning,\u201d a sign under the speaker reads.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you still prefer a crew member, just let me know, my feelings won\u2019t be hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n MORE: Maccas Aus quietly removes common item<\/a><\/p>\n Australia is only the second McDonald\u2019s market globally to trial the technology after the US, where it is currently in more than a dozen restaurants.<\/p>\n While McDonald\u2019s says it\u2019s too early to say when and if the feature is rolled out more broadly, the company is adamant it will not have any impact on jobs.<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d McDonald\u2019s Australia chief restaurant officer David McMullen told news.com.au.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is absolutely no plan to reduce jobs in the restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n McDonald\u2019s currently has more than 1025 locations across the country, around 85 per cent of which are franchised. Overall the company more than 115,000 people in restaurants and corporate offices, and is one of the largest youth employers in Australia.<\/p>\n While AI job cuts<\/a> sweep through other industries, humans will keep making the food and serving customers at Macca\u2019s for now \u2014 Mr McMullen does not expect to see a fully automated restaurant any time soon.<\/p>\n \u201cAt this stage, we\u2019re only looking at AI as part of our drive-thru order-taking experience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a very, very early test and learn. We\u2019ve got a lot to learn through this process and we\u2019ll see where we go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr McMullen said just as with the rollout of self-service ordering kiosks in-store, the intention was \u201calways around redeployment\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWith innovation at Macca\u2019s, always the first lens that we look at is, how do we make the lives of our managers and crew easier? And then secondly, how do we make the customer experience even better?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what the kiosk was about, and that\u2019s what this is about as well. It\u2019s about how do we redeploy crew throughout the restaurant to make sure we can deliver on that customer experience promise.\u201d<\/p>\n He stressed \u201cour restaurant teams are at the core of our customer experience, so this technology is designed to help our crew, not to replace them\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe software is designed to ultimately streamline the ordering process for our customers and allow our crew to focus more on the experiential pieces of drive through \u2014 fast and accurate service, great-tasting food, and then the service that\u2019s made Macca\u2019s so famous around the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n As part of the trial, the technology will initially operate during specific parts of the day, allowing McDonald\u2019s to \u201cgather feedback, monitor performance and identify further opportunities to enhance the drive-thru experience\u201d, the company said in a press release.<\/p>\n Schofields restaurant manager Kim said the trial was \u201creally exciting\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been really fun to test out,\u201d she told news.com.au, adding it makes the job \u201cso much easier\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe technology works pretty well in the trials that we\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really helps us improve the customer experience. It\u2019s helped us be able to focus more on giving the customer more attention and take the load off the crew people.\u201d<\/p>\n Kim also said she was not worried about AI coming for people\u2019s jobs.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, not at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s only helped us out more to give people more time and attention on other areas of the restaurant, like beverage. Providing a good customer experience \u2026 more than standing here and taking the cars.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the results McDonald\u2019s will be closely monitoring is response times \u2014 how long a customer is left waiting at the order box \u2014 a key metric for fast-food operators.<\/p>\n Ultimately it\u2019s hoped the AI assistant will speed up the overall drive-thru experience.<\/p>\n While she\u2019s not perfect \u2014 Macca\u2019s insists it\u2019s a \u201cshe\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s 99 per cent of way there. She can even make small talk, but not too much. And if you confuse her, a human crew member is on the line to quickly take over the order.<\/p>\n Mr McMullen acknowledged that as with any novel AI tech, there would be people wanting to mess with it.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, with any technology it\u2019s always going to pique people\u2019s interests,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut at the moment it\u2019s very much focused on that order-taking experience and how it can streamline that process. And we\u2019ve always got our crew on standby to help any customers who may need some assistance through the process.\u201d<\/p>\n