McDonald's sagte, es versuche, die Kunden zu erfreuen. Dann rutschte die Wahrheit heraus

Ich möchte glauben.

I want to believe that technology is making the world better. Just.

I want to believe that we are all becoming more aware of the world's truths.

And I want to believe that when companies say things, they really mean them.

That's why I was so, so moved when McDonald's began experimenting with robot ordering at the drive-thru. Yes, it looked like a perfectly awful experience, but I wanted to believe that, over time, the robots would come to understand our accents and our quirky individualistic orders.

Not so long ago, McDonald's announced it was selling its McD Tech Labs — formerly known as Apprente — to IBM. The company declared that IBM had more of the core abilities needed to expand robot drive-thrus to everyone and, one imagined, making everyone happier.

In making this sale, McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski bestand darauf, that the tests the company had performed in Chicago had revealed “substantial benefits” to both customers and employees.

I emitted a brief hosanna. Could this really be a case of technology improving everyone's lot?

But then I drove through a recent interview at JPMorgan's 50th Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference.

Here was IBM's senior vice-president of global markets, Rob Thomas giving his view on helping McDonald's become pre-eminent in robot ordering at the drive-thru.

He said that McDonald's had “kind of struggled” around ordering. 

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„Wir glaubten, und wir haben eine These darauf aufgebaut, dass wir unsere Technologie zur Verarbeitung natürlicher Sprache verwenden könnten, die sehr gut geeignet ist, um die Technologie von McDonalds zu erweitern, und wir fangen jetzt an, sie in vielen ihrer Geschäfte, schließlich in allen ihren, einzuführen Läden“, sagt Thomas.

Ah, so everyone really is going to get naturally linguistic robots? That should be interesting.

What was even more pulsating, however, was Thomas's next thought: “And this is a great application of technology, wage inflation and quick service restaurants.”

An application of wage inflation? Do you mean it's not so much about improving the customer experience but more about pure, non-human money-making?

Ah, so that's the real motivation? Fewer people want to work at McDonald's for relatively little money, so voilá, technology meets quick-service restaurants and squashes wage inflation.

Thomas war sehr gut gelaunt (oder vielleicht ein Brötchen), als er fortfuhr: „Wir können alle Drive-Thru-Bestellungen erledigen, ohne dass ein menschliches Eingreifen erforderlich ist. Hin und wieder wird der Mensch etwas stoßen, aber es treibt Franchisenehmer durch die Kraft der Software und durch KI und kreative Konstruktionen zu großer Wirtschaftlichkeit.“

There's nothing like the human being kicked to as they stand, perhaps all alone, making burgers all night.

I wanted to believe in technology bringing substantial benefits to all. Yet the painful reality seems to be that the substantial benefits accrue to the franchisees far more than to, say, customers or employees.

So when you encounter one of these robots, and they don't understand your more personal order, just remember that they're just cheap labor. Nothing more.