Remember the good ol' days when a Taco Bell run meant asking the register for a crunchwrap supreme and a side of diarrhea later? Well, those days might be phasing out like skinny jeans. 

Every teenager's go-to fast food place famous for their Doritos Locos Tacos and Baja Blasts, is taking a giant leap into the future by embracing voice AI technology at its drive-thrus. By the end of 2024, you might find yourself chatting with a robot at 1am instead of a human.

Bet you didn’t expect a history lesson today, but for the last 80 years, drive-thrus have been a staple of American culture, possibly even the sneaky culprit behind our obesity crisis. These magical windows have let us order 15,000 calories in a bag without ever leaving the car. 

(Source: Lovefood)

Crazy to think that one day we’ll be telling our kids that these drive-thru windows were once operated by actual human beings, right? Thanks to Taco Bell, owned by Yum Brands (YUM), rolling out AI systems across hundreds of their locations, we’ll have another interesting conversation to look forward to with our kids. "Back in my day, a real person handed you your tacos."

Dane Mathews, Taco Bell's certified tech nerd (and no, he's not related to the band), claims this move will lighten the load for employees, letting them focus more on hospitality. In simpler terms, instead of just making sure your bean burrito actually has beans instead of the dog food they call ground beef, they'll be making sure you're having a blast (pun intended) inside the restaurant, far away from the robots. Mathews noted that the AI will handle all the grunt work, freeing up employees to focus on the truly critical tasks—like throwing raunchy Christmas parties and jumping over the counter to punch customers.

If you're skeptical about trusting a robot with your late-night taco cravings, you're not alone. McDonald's recently scrapped its AI drive-thru project after some truly epic failures. It was like their ice cream machines—always broken, but more embarrassing. One TikTok user hilariously recounted how removing a Diet Coke from her order resulted in getting nine sweet teas instead. That's either a glitch or if you asked Joe Rogan it’s the AI just trying to put the location out of business so he can take it over for cheap.

(Source: NY Post)

Yum Brands, however, is betting that Taco Bell’s AI won't flop as hard. Lawrence Kim, their Chief Innovation Officer, assured everyone that after two years of tinkering, the AI is ready for the task. Kim boasted that the AI system has been trained to understand a variety of accents and dialects, aiming to avoid the hilarious disasters McDonald's faced. So, whether you're ordering a quesadilla with a Southern drawl or a burrito with a Boston accent, this AI's got you covered.

Taco Bell isn’t alone in this futuristic endeavor to replace humans with robots. White Castle and KFC are also dabbling with AI at their drive-thrus. According to a survey by the National Restaurant Association, while 16% of restaurant operators are keen to invest in AI, only a third of fast-food patrons are open to chatting with a robot about their meal choices.

But nothing is stopping Yum Brands. With over 100 Taco Bell locations already equipped with voice AI, they’re aiming for a nationwide rollout. The company claims the tech has already boosted order accuracy by 15%, trimmed wait times by 12%, and lightened employees' workloads by handling repetitive tasks. Plus, let’s all face it, it’s saving them a LOT of money. Which is the only thing that matters in the end to corporations.

So, will Taco Bell’s AI experiment be what drives Wall Street back into Yum’s stock in droves? Only time, and possibly another viral TikTok video, will tell.

Stock.News has positions in McDonalds.