AI-driven drive-throughs and front-line restaurant tech feel robotic and error-prone in real settings, undermining the human care that hospitality depends on. The speaker argues AI isn't ready for widespread guest-facing use until it stops creating friction instead of solving it.
I think the tech in our space isn't aligned. That's where I see it at. Don't forget, we're in the hospitality industry. We're here to take care of people, right? That's what this is about— hospitable and engagement. When we get away from that ethos and AI creates these friction points or takes away the humanity, it does cause an issue. The AI as it relates to hospitality just isn't there yet. We think about AI drive-through. I implemented it in my previous life. Great in theory, great in labs. Real-world experience, you're like, a little bit too robotic, errors. And while we had some great successes in certain markets and while there's some great technologies coming out now, is it ready for primetime where the guests are willing and able to interact with that every single time? Probably not. Why don't you see AI at airlines? Why do you not see AI in hospitals yet when you're checking in, right? There are some things where it's getting there, But it's a slow and steady kind of course in action.
