\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
![\"Cash](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4044247_web1_AI-human-cash-macanaya-unsplash.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
Cash Macanaya \/ Unsplash<\/p>\n
Relationships between humans and AI are becoming increasingly complex, particularly in the workplace.<\/p>\n
While I ended up as a carhop, A&W had us newbies take a turn at all the jobs in the restaurant \u2014 flipping burgers, dishing up fries from their big metal baskets, making shakes and whistle dogs.<\/p>\n
Things were simpler then. We didn\u2019t have headsets, touch screens, digitally programmed machines, apps or delivery drivers to contend with, and I can only imagine how fast-paced today\u2019s fast-food workplaces are. So it was with interest that I read the Feb. 27 article in the Free Press about Burger King\u2019s plans to roll out its artificial intelligence-driven coach, \u201cPatty,\u201d in Canadian restaurants later this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatty is a voice-based assistant which will be piped through the headsets Burger King staff wear, listening to their conversations and prodding them toward more attentive customer service and efficiency,\u201d reporter Tara Deschamps noted. \u201cThe tool will be able to remind employees how to make food orders and help them upsell customers. Patty can also prompt staff to remove items from digital menus or app ordering when products are unavailable, and alert them to washrooms that need cleaning or a drink machine that\u2019s out of a certain flavour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Imagine this frazzling scenario: you\u2019re trying to listen to someone\u2019s order through your headset over the scratchy drive-thru audio when Patty interrupts to say the orange soda canister is empty, you didn\u2019t say \u201cwelcome!\u201d, there have been complaints about the state of the bathroom and you forgot to pitch the upsized combo.<\/p>\n
Patrick Doyle, executive chairman of Burger King parent company Restaurant Brands International, told investors in Miami that Patty will be \u201ca game changer in terms of how you run restaurants.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019d change my game all right \u2014 I\u2019d be looking for another job.<\/p>\n
Will Patty also be monitoring employee interactions with each other and reporting back to HQ? It\u2019s all too Big Brotherish for me; a real-life rise of the machine. Like York University marketing instructor David Pullara, who was interviewed for the article, I can see how an AI voice coach could be beneficial as a training tool, but as an on-the-job, in-your-ear robo-boss? I\u2019d give Patty a pass.<\/p>\n
Patty is already being tested at locations in the United States. Burger King told USA Today that it\u2019s not going to be used to rate employees, but rather is \u201cabout reinforcing great hospitality and giving managers helpful, real-time insights\u2026 The role of this technology is to support our teams so they can stay present with guests.\u201d<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s see how that goes.<\/p>\n
In other AI news, the Free Press ran a story from Los Angeles on March 6 about a guy named Charlie Snodgrass, who used to be a fast-food delivery driver before he and many others were replaced by fleets of robots who trundle through the city carrying food orders in high-tech storage bins.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Now Snodgrass is working as a robot wrangler, keeping the bots who took his job charged up, clean and running smoothly.<\/p>\n
Robot wranglers are often also expected to rescue robots who get delayed by uneven sidewalks, unexpected obstacles or intersections where a human hand is needed to press the button to activate the pedestrian crossing signal.<\/p>\n
It must surely be disheartening to have to rush to the aid of a piece of technology that is seen as offering a better return on investment as a service-delivery model than you and your human colleagues were.<\/p>\n
But then this is the weird new world we live in, where self-driving cars colliding with AI delivery robots on the streets of Los Angeles is no longer news and where, soon, fast-food employees will feel the sting of the tiny whip of an AI coach in their ears.<\/p>\n
Pam Frampton lives in St. John\u2019s. Email pamelajframpton@gmail.com | X: @Pam_Frampton | Bluesky: @pamframpton.bsky.social<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Pam Frampton Pam Frampton is a columnist for the Free Press. She has worked in print media since 1990 and has been offering up her opinions for more than 20 years. Read more about Pam<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pam\u2019s columns are built on facts, but offer her personal views through arguments and analysis. Every column Pam produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n