Could an AI barista know you’re craving an Iced Caramel Macchiato? Starbucks says it will begin testing artificial intelligence for drive-up ordering — including recognizing customers as they approach — as the company focuses on integrating more automated technologies, CEO Brian Niccol said on last week’s fourth-quarter 2026 earnings call.
The idea is to make ordering “faster, more convenient and more personal” for drive-up customers, who make up about half of all Starbucks patrons, according to Niccol. The company would begin testing background AI models for drive-thrus sometime during fiscal year 2027, which ends on September 28, 2027. There were no specifics as to where the test would take place or how it would affect food and drink prices.
Niccol said AI will help input orders “more accurately and efficiently,” while baristas will talk to drive-up customers to increase personal connection and speed up service.
The AI might as well know what you want, right could want before you even engage with the human barista. Niccol said the company is investigating ways to use automated systems to recognize repeat customers as they drive up and offer “personalized digital menus,” possibly suggesting purchases.
While the exact type of systems being tested to recognize customers has not been specified, possible methods could include facial recognition, license plate reading or perhaps mobile app detection. It also remains to be seen which methods require explicit customer consent or provide an opt-out mechanism. In an email to CNET, a Starbucks representative did not confirm what specific technology would be used.
The representative said Starbucks already uses AI in its operations through Green Dot Assist, which helps workers open drink recipes, solve equipment problems and coordinate staff. The company also uses Smart Queue to figure out the sequencing of orders that come in via in-store, drive-thru, mobile app or delivery.
Do customers even want more AI?
Several major fast food chains are using or testing AI to process drive-thru orders, including McDonald’s, Taco Bell, KFC, White Castle and Wendy’s. Customer reviews have been mixed so far, with the main issues being hidden orders, lengthy processing and the inability of bots to answer questions, according to customer research by restaurant tech website Canopy.
Burger King, meanwhile, decided to back off from using AI for drive-thru because some customers drove away instead of placing their orders with a bot. The company is still testing AI but said it wants to give people the option to order from a human.
It’s unclear what Starbucks’ goal is or which customers the company is trying to appeal to, said Uttara M. Ananthakrishnan, an AI researcher and associate professor at the University of Washington. But there is much to be skeptical about.
“AI in face-to-face customer service will fall in many edge cases and has many potential PR problems without clear benefits,” Ananthakrishnan told CNET. “It is better to postpone until there is a wider general acceptance among the public.”
Ananthakrishnan said one flaw in using bots is voice recognition — many AI models are trained on common US accents and don’t perform well with non-native speakers or international accents. Ambient noise from vehicles and weather can also affect how well the bot understands the customer through a kiosk microphone. This could represent health risks, said Ananthakrishnan, if, for example, someone is allergic to nuts and the AI misinterprets the request as “no nuts”.
McDonald’s ended its AI drive-thru experiment with IBM in 2024 when bots were unable to understand different accents and dialects. The fast food giant recently launched a new experiment with AI bot Archy as part of an $8.5 billion modernization plan. There was also a fake order that went viral when someone ordered 18,000 water at a Taco Bell and the AI processed it.
Most of Ananthakrishnan’s students said they don’t want to talk to AI during their customer service interactions. However, more people may accept drive-thru AI if they know mistakes can be corrected quickly, Ananthakrishnan said.
In a Bluesky post by More Perfect Union, an Emmy-winning nonprofit newsroom that advocates for workers, reaction to Starbucks’ AI plan has been overwhelmingly negative, with commenters complaining about privacy violations and pointing to the potential for “dynamic pricing” based on customer behavior and algorithms
Starbucks has said it does not use surveillance pricing, a discriminatory method increasingly used by hotels, airlines and retailers. However, a 2025 report in the Washington Post indicated that loyal customers who use the Starbucks app receive fewer promotional deals more often.
More AI, fewer workers?
In a 2026 statement about the use of AI, the company says: “Our business is rooted in human connection – and our technology is designed to enhance it, not replace it.” But Starbucks’ human connection with its workers has been problematic, and AI has not been known to improve labor relations.
Since the start of a major organizing drive that began in late 2021, Starbucks employees have formed unions at nearly 700 stores in the United States, demanding higher pay and more robust staffing levels. Workers say they are not given enough hours, so the company can avoid benefits, and are often given very short notice about shift changes. Last year, the NLRB said Starbucks “engaged in a scorched earth campaign and pattern of misconduct in response to union organizing.”
Since he took over as CEO in September 2024Niccol has cut more than 2,000 employees as part of its Back to Starbucks strategy, which has resulted in simplified menus, reduced wait times and the closure of some stores.
In August, Starbucks Workers United, which represents 12,000 baristas, announced an open national consumer boycott against the company’s Starbucks locations. The call accused the company of violating US labor laws and trying to split the union, while also criticizing the company’s push for AI. “Starbucks has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of care for the workers who fuel the company’s profits by wasting millions of dollars on AI and technology that don’t work, launching countless gimmicky drinks designed to distract from real problems, and inventing pointless policies that do nothing but make workers’ jobs harder,” reads the call.
In a 2025 interview with Current Affairs, union organizer Jason Woods said the company tried to use AI to place orders, but couldn’t handle the staff when an employee called. “They want to use algorithms to install our games,” he said. “It’s inhumane. It’s anti-worker, anti-labor.”
Starbucks Workers United did not immediately respond to a request for comment.