McDonald’s ditches AI order system after bacon ice cream mix up

McDonald’s has axed its AI drive-thru trial

McDonald’s has chosen to end its trial of an AI ordering system after several mistaken orders using the system went viral on social media.

The system – developed by IBM – uses voice recognition to process orders and was being trialled in more than 100 McDonald’s restaurants across the US since 2021.

However, the technology has been criticised after members of the public posted videos to social media platforms showing mix-ups in their orders, including a dessert topped with bacon, the AI mistakenly adding extra products.

In one TikTok video – posted with the caption “Fighting with McDonald’s robot” – a woman is seen struggling to order vanilla ice cream and a bottle of water, and instead ends up with multiple sundaes, ketchup sachets, and two portions of butter.

The fast-food giant has told its franchisees to remove the technology by the end of July. It said in a statement: “While there have been successes to date, we feel there is an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly.

“After a thoughtful review, McDonald’s has decided to end our current partnership with IBM on AOT (automated order taking) and the technology will be shut off in all restaurants currently testing it no later than 26 July 2024.”

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FTC files TikTok complaint with DoJ

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has lodged a complaint with the Department of Justice claiming TikTok has potentially breached the privacy of children.

The FTC says its own investigation “uncovered reason to believe” that TikTok and parent company ByteDance “are violating or are about to violate the law” governing child privacy, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act

The case is separate from legislation passed earlier this year to ban TikTok in the US if ByteDance does not sell the business.

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US govt sues Adobe

The US government has sued software giant Adobe, accusing it of violating consumer protection laws with “hidden” termination fees and a convoluted cancellation process.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said the firm had failed to clearly disclose its terms to customers, including the year-long length of a subscription and charges that would be triggered for cancelling early.

In its complaint, the agency accused Adobe of refusing to modify its behaviour because it would hurt the company financially.

Adobe disputed the claims and said it would fight the lawsuit.

“We are transparent with the terms and conditions of our subscription agreements and have a simple cancellation process,” said Dana Rao, general counsel and chief trust officer.

“We will refute the FTC’s claims in court,” he added.

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Autonomous vehicles safer than normal cars – except in low light

Self-driving cars have been found to be safer – except at dawn, dusk, or when turning, according to study.

A study found that self-driving vehicles are safer than cars driven by humans, except at certain times of the day or when the vehicle is turning.

Autonomous vehicles are overall involved in less accidents than vehicles driven by humans, according to the study by University of Central Florida.

Researchers investigated the difference in accident occurrence between Autonomous Vehicles’ levels and Human-Driven Vehicles by utilising 2100 Advanced Driving Systems and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and 35,113 Human-Driven Vehicles accident data, with self-driving vehicles experiencing a lower accident rate.

However, in certain conditions, including low light such as dusk or dawn, autonomous vehicles were more than five times as likely to have an accident as a human driven vehicle. While turning, self-driving cars were nearly two times more likely to have an accident.

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Nvidia named world’s most valuable listed company (again)

Nvidia has leapfrogged Apple and Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable listed company, driven by the AI-boom.

The American chipmaker’s share price hit an all-time high, with the company now valued at $3.34tn (£2.63tn) – almost double the value at the start of 2024.

Nvidia only leapt to second highest valued company last month, behind Microsoft, but both firms were pipped when Apple revealed its AI plans last week.

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