The technology can offer personalised recommendations and loyal customers’ repeat orders, helping Starbucks achieve the personalised touch it’s looking to bring back to its cafes.
Starbucks is set to pilot a generative artificial intelligence assistant, developed in collaboration with Microsoft’s Microsoft Azure OpenAI Platform, at 35 stores. The initiative is part of the coffee chain’s broader strategy to simplify baristas’ tasks and enhance service speed.
The coffee chain showed off the new technology to more than 14,000 North American store managers at its Leadership Experience in Las Vegas. A broad launch of the “Green Dot Assist” platform across the US and Canada is slated for the company’s fiscal 2026, which starts in the fall.
“It’s just another example of how innovation technology is coming into service of our partners and making sure that we’re doing all we can to simplify the operations, make their jobs just a little bit easier, maybe a little bit more fun, so that they can do what they do best,” said Deb Hall Lefevre, Starbucks Chief Technology Officer, told CNBC.
Instead of flipping through manuals or accessing Starbucks’ intranet, baristas will be able to use a tablet behind the counter equipped with Green Dot Assist to get answers to a range of questions, from how to make an iced shaken espresso to troubleshooting equipment errors. Baristas can either type or verbally ask their queries in conversational language.
As the AI assistant evolves, Starbucks has even bigger plans for its next generation. According to Deb Hall Lefevre, those ideas include automatically creating a ticket with IT for equipment issues or generating suggestions for a substitute when a barista calls out of work.
Deb Hall Lefevre said the company’s partnership with Microsoft includes a grounding engine that ensures the accuracy of the information provided.
Deb Hall Lefevre also said tenured baristas have been learning to use the new POS in as little as an hour. Plus, the technology can offer personalised recommendations and loyal customers’ repeat orders, helping Starbucks achieve the personalised touch it’s looking to bring back to its cafes.
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