Burger King turns to AI to flame broil employees who aren't friendly enough

The bot’s nagging will continue until morale improves. Burger King is rolling out a new employee-facing AI that, among other things, will listen to employees’ customer interactions to ensure they’re being friendly enough - as if working in fast food weren’t hard enough already.

Burger King announced a wider rollout of the BK Assistant, along with its employee AI assistant-cum-narc "Patty," on Thursday during an investor event hosted by parent company Restaurant Brands International. According to RBI, BK Assistant has been deployed for testing in approximately 500 stores around the US, and the company wants to have it available in all 7,000 US Burger Kings by the end of 2026. 

A promo video played during the investor event livestream showed Patty talking to an incoming shift manager, sharing current "friendliness scores," the status of low-stock items, and other data points a team leader might need to know ...