The next time you pull up to the drive-thru at Burger King, you may notice something different. The greeting might sound warmer. The thank you might feel extra intentional. That could be Patty. The company is expanding a new AI-powered assistant that listens to employee headset interactions and tracks how staff speak with customers. The goal, according to executives, is simple. Create friendlier restaurants and smoother operations. But the rollout raises a bigger question. When does coaching become monitoring?

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What is Burger King’s Patty AI assistant and how does it work?

Burger King’s Patty AI assistant runs on technology from OpenAI. In practice, it listens for key phrases such as “Welcome to Burger King,” “Please” and “Thank you.” It then compiles that information into reports so managers can measure how consistently staff use polite language. Although company leaders say it is not recording every conversation, they frame it as a coaching tool designed to reinforce service standards.

Beyond tracking manners, Patty also supports daily operations. For example, it can answer questions about how many bacon strips go on a sandwich or how to clean specific equipment. In addition, it flags inventory shortages and alerts managers when machines stop working. It even tracks how often employees tell customers an item is unavailable, which can highlight supply gaps.

As a result, that data has already influenced menu decisions, including the return of apple pie after its removal in 2020. Taken together, Patty functions as a manners coach, kitchen assistant and data analyst rolled into one.

From pilot program to nationwide push

Burger King began testing Patty at about 100 U.S. locations last year. Now the company plans to expand to roughly 500 stores, with a goal of rolling it out nationwide by year’s end.

And Burger King is not alone. Rivals like Wendy’s, Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and KFC have all tested AI in some form. Some experiments focused on automated ordering. Others used AI to streamline drive-thru operations.

Results have been mixed. Customers have praised the faster service. They have also complained about glitches and awkward robotic interactions. Burger King’s version stands out because it focuses on employee behavior, not just customer convenience.

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Coaching tool or digital hall monitor?

Burger King says Patty exists to help managers coach teams and improve hospitality. Executives argue that customers want a warmer experience. Data simply helps restaurants measure it.

Yet social media reaction tells a different story. Some critics say constant monitoring creates pressure. They worry about employees having a bad day and getting flagged for forgetting a single word. Others describe it as surveillance disguised as support.

This tension reflects a larger trend in the workplace. AI increasingly measures performance in warehouses, offices and retail counters. Now it is moving into fast-food headsets. The real debate is not about politeness. It is about power. 

The bigger AI trend in fast food

Fast-food chains operate on razor-thin margins. Small efficiency gains matter. If AI reduces waste, speeds up service and improves customer satisfaction, companies will keep investing. At the same time, public opinion matters. Customers say they value authenticity. Employees want fair treatment. The companies that succeed will need to balance both.

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What this means to you

If you are a customer, you may notice friendlier greetings and fewer out-of-stock surprises. AI can help restaurants restock faster and fix broken machines sooner. That could mean shorter lines and more consistent menus. If you are an employee, the shift feels different. Every please and thank you becomes part of a data stream. Managers can track patterns instead of relying on occasional observations. For workers, that may increase accountability. It may also increase stress. For the industry, this signals a future where AI quietly runs in the background of nearly every transaction.

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Kurt’s key takeaways

Technology keeps moving into spaces that once felt purely human. The drive-thru greeting used to be about personality and mood. Now it may be part of a data dashboard. Some will see that as progress. Others will see it as overreach.

If AI can measure kindness, should it? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com

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Slay the Spire II launched in early access last week, and it’s already an excellent sequel to one of the best roguelikes of all time. In many ways, it’s very similar to its predecessor. Like Hades II and Hollow Knight: Silksong, Slay the Spire II mostly iterates on an already superb foundation. But it does add online co-op with up to four players. While multiplayer changes the familiar rhythms of Slay the Spire just a bit, it’s still a great way to tackle the arduous climb up the spire.

A round of Slay the Spire II plays essentially the same as the original: In each run, you navigate three different acts across a winding map, slowly making a build by crafting your deck and picking up various perk-giving relics, and fighting enemies, elites, and bosses along the way. Slay the Spire II retains the deliberate, turn-based style of play, meaning that when it’s your turn, you have as much time as you want to decide what to do. Since you can see exactly what your enemies are planning for their next turn, there’s a lot of strategy in deciding how much damage to do and how much defense you might need to set up. Multiplayer adds a slight twist: When it’s your turn, everyone can play simultaneously. That opens up all sorts of new opportunities for planning, but it also requires communication to make sure everyone is using their cards effectively.

My multiplayer partner was my wife, the biggest Slay the Spire fan I know, and on our second run we got a thrilling victory. I played the new Necrobinder character, a necromancer, while she played as the returning Silent, which can make decks built around flurries of shivs. Over the course of the run, we accidentally settled into a strategy where I focused on applying the Vulnerable status to as many enemies as possible before my wife would rain down shivs upon our foes.

Slay the Spire II doesn’t encourage teamwork only in battles. At a campfire rest stop, you can choose to mend a friend’s health to help them out. (Some of the new enemies are tough, so I’m glad this is an option.) You each get a vote on which path to take next on the map. Everyone can draw on the map, too — as I learned many times after seeing the doodles my wife made when I would spend too long in the shop.

Since we had to communicate so much, our winning run took about an hour and a half, slower than how fast I could blast through runs in the first game. When we finally defeated the Act 3 boss, though, it was even more satisfying than most of my solo wins because we did it together. My one complaint is that co-op requires you to each play online on your own copy of the game, and that, because there’s no couch co-op, we each had to play on separate devices even though we were sitting on the couch right next to each other.

Those are annoying tradeoffs, but multiplayer is such a fun addition to Slay the Spire that I don’t mind. I can’t wait to try another multiplayer run and see what challenges — and doodles — are in store for me.