TechTakes

In my experience, the large self-service kiosks at McDonald's are pretty decent (unless they crash, which happens too often). Many people (including myself) use them voluntarily, because if it is nice to have more control of and visual information about your order (including prices, product images, nutritional information, allergens etc.). You don't even need to wait in line anymore if their staff brings your order directly to your table. You don't need to use any tricks to speak to a human either, because you can always go to the counter and order there instead. However, this only works because the kiosks are customer-friendly enough that you don't have to force most people to use them.

I know that even those kiosks probably aren't great in the sense that they may replace some jobs, at least over the short-term. However, if customers truly like something, this might still lead to more demand and thus more jobs in other areas (people who carry your order to your table, people who prepare the food itself, people who code those apps - unless they are truly "vibe-coded", maintain the kiosks, design their content etc.).

However, the current "breed" of AI bots is a far cry away from even that, in my impression. They are really primarily used as a threat to “uppity” labor, and who cares about the customers?