“My research focuses primarily  on employee well-being within the service and hospitality industry. I’m also increasingly studying the use of technology—AI and robotics—in these sectors, especially in the fast food sector, where there’s the biggest technology uptake so far, both on the employee side and on the consumer side. AI chatbots are common now at drive-thrus across the country. What’s most interesting to us is how this technology is unconsciously or consciously changing the way consumers of fast food behave, and how it influences their choices.

“We were inspired by a study done a few years ago on Panera and the impact on consumer food choices and behavior when Panera replaced humans with tablets. The tablets had unintentional consequences: People allocated less time to making their choices. Their cognitive attention spans decreased; they became more careless in ordering. An AI chatbot is an even greater stretch. In our study, we found that ordering through an AI chatbot makes consumers feel cognitively depleted. Right now, the voices are still somewhat mechanical and not humanlike. There’s so much background noise at a drive-thru that adds to the tiredness. And when people are tired, they want comfort food. They’re going to order even more indulgent food, focusing on short-term satisfaction. 

“How do we counter that when AI chatbots are here to stay? We came up with the idea of using friendly avatars to talk to when ordering to create comfort. We believe this change can counter consumer fatigue and encourage more thought-out food choices. As AI becomes more common in everyday life, it’s going to be more important to study the impact.”