Burger King AI Tracks Staff Friendliness During 500-Store US Pilot

Burger King is piloting an OpenAI-powered assistant named Patty in 500 US restaurants to monitor employee friendliness through drive-thru audio analysis.The system identifies keywords like "please" and "thank you" to generate friendliness scores for staff, which Restaurant Brands International says will help streamline operations.While Digital Director Thibault Roux described the AI as a support tool, online critics have called the constant monitoring of workers dystopian.The technological rollout coincides with a major Whopper upgrade led by Tom Curtis, featuring improved ingredients and new protective cardboard packaging.