Burger King put an AI in its employees ears. Now it is listening for please and thank you.

The fast food chain is rolling out an AI-powered headset to 500 restaurants across the US. It is meant to help workers with operational questions like how to clean the shake machine or how many bacon strips go on a Maple Bourbon BBQ Whopper.

But it is also grading workers on politeness.

We compiled information from franchisees and guests on how to measure friendliness, Thibault Roux, Burger King chief digital officer, told The Verge. The result is an AI trained to recognize phrases like welcome to Burger King, please, and thank you. Managers can now ask their headset how their location is performing on friendliness.

Not Just About Politeness

The BK Assistant platform is ambitious in ways that go beyond politeness monitoring. Patty connects to the new cloud point-of-sale system, meaning she knows when the drive-thru is backed up, when the fryer is down, when you are out of Whopper buns. Within fifteen minutes of a stockout, the entire ecosystem updates kiosks, drive-thru menus, digital boards.

It is meant to be a coaching tool, Roux said. The company is still working on capturing tone, not just words.

Burger King is not alone in the AI drive-thru space. McDonald tried AI with IBM. Wendys partnered with Google. Taco Bell let AI take orders with mixed results. But Burger King is taking a different approach: instead of putting AI at the window talking to customers, they are putting AI in the kitchen listening to employees.

We are tinkering with it, we are playing around with it, but it is still a risky bet, Roux admitted. Not every guest is ready for this.

The Useful Part vs The Orwellian Part

The shake machine question is genuinely useful. An AI that can answer operational questions instantly, across hundreds of locations, without waiting for a manager to walk over that is the kind of tool workers have been asking for.

The friendliness grading? That is the part that feels like a performance review you cannot escape. Every shift. Every welcome to Burger King. Every thank you, come again.

The full BK Assistant web and app platform rolls out to all US locations by the end of 2026.

Somewhere, an employee in a franchise somewhere just got a notification: Your friendliness score dropped 3 percent this hour. Consider smiling more.

The future of work, apparently, comes with a headset.

Sources:

• The Verge - Burger King will use AI to check if employees say please and thank you
• BBC News - Burger King AI bot will check up on staffs please and thank yous
• NBC News - Burger King new AI agent will listen to orders and coach workers on being hospitable
• The Guardian - Burger King cooks up AI chatbot to spot if employees say please and thank you
• AP News - Burger King is testing AI headsets that will know if employees say welcome or thank you
• CNET - Burger King Cooks Up Patty, an AI Chatbot to Monitor Employees