The fast food industry has spent decades trying to make ordering a burger faster. Digital menus, mobile apps, self-service kiosks—you name it. Now, artificial intelligence wants a turn at the drive-thru speaker. But at Chick-fil-A, the familiar “my pleasure” still needs to come from a human.
While McDonald’s is testing AI-powered voice ordering at its drive-thrus, Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy says his restaurants won’t follow suit. The chicken chain isn’t rejecting AI altogether, but it believes some parts of the fast food experience are better left to humans, even if technology could make them more efficient.
McDonald’s is also defending a different kind of algorithm in court. A new lawsuit alleges its pricing-recommendation system helped coordinate higher menu prices—a claim the company denies. The two technologies are separate, but both put a spotlight on how much control restaurants are willing to hand over to AI—and how much responsibility remains with the people using it.
Chick-fil-A calls its approach to technology “human plus.” The company is exploring AI behind the scenes but won’t use it to replace drive-thru order-takers, Cathy told CNBC.
“We’re not gonna substitute that interaction with technology, because we feel like that hospitality is so important to create that warm environment for consumers,” he said.
Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]: https://www.fortune.com/2026/10/09/chick-fil-a-mcdonalds-ai-drive-thru-ordering-pricing-lawsuit/?utm_source=reddit/