Yum! Brands exec pushes again on AI hate: Taco Bell drive-thru bot helped improve worker retention

At the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara, Calif., on Tuesday, Yum! Brands Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary Erika Burkhardt explained the disconnect she feels in seeing the positive impacts of how the fast-food giant has deployed AI across its restaurants, such as automating the drive-thru ordering process, with coming home and going on social media to see widespread criticism of the technology. 

“I’m seeing all the data center noise and all the things that people worry about with AI, and there’s that constant tension,” she told Fortune Editorial Director Kristin Stoller. “One of the things that we’ve learned through the drive-thru experience is that AI is actually increasing retention among our team members in the restaurant because it’s making their jobs easier. It’s taking away the tension points of the ordering process. They’re able to focus on the job with the product and the hospitality with the customer.”

The fast-food industry has been experimenting with AI to increase order efficiency, and seen mixed success. Last year, one Taco Bell customer appeared to troll a location’s drive-thru, ordering 18,000 water cups from the automated system. Still, there’s evidence of success with automation for the brand. In July, Taco Bell expanded the use of Omilia Voice AI in drive-thrus to nearly 900 locations.

“The important thing for us is to keep in mind that that’s a learning process,” Burkhardt added. “And that makes us better.”

Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean, chief corporate affairs officer at DoorDash, said the company has been able to successfully integrate AI by having the technology so deeply integrated into its workflow that its use simply becomes a routine process for Dashers, rather than a debate about its use in the first place. The delivery company introduced Dash Buddy for new Dashers, which can produce real-time answers for the drivers. Jarvis-Shean said the app can answer about 95% of questions in real time.

AI is just “embedded within the product versus having a conversation, which is a little bit different like, ‘Hi, we’re excited that you’re interested in dashing. Here’s an AI tool to help you do it,’” Jarvis-Shean said. “It should just be easier and better.” 

The search for meaningful solutions in automation is part of a broader push of corporations finding use cases for AI amid a splendid blitz in hopes of increasing workflow efficiency. Ami Badani, chief marketing officer of semiconductor firm Arm, has already seen a positive impact in how quickly the company is able to release corporate communications and respond to announcements from industry movers.

“I think it’s just going to be additive and help with human productivity and allow us to do things that we probably weren’t able to do before,” she said.