Incident 1274: AI-Powered Taco Bell Drive-Thru Reportedly Disrupted by Viral Prank Ordering 18,000 Water Cups

Description: Taco Bell's voice-based drive-thru system was reportedly overwhelmed after a prankster ordered 18,000 water cups, reportedly causing the AI to stall mid-interaction and forcing staff to intervene. Purportedly viral clips of repeated misinterpretations prompted the company to reassess where and when to deploy the system, as customer frustration and operational disruptions mounted across participating locations.

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Alleged: Taco Bell and Omilia developed an AI system deployed by Taco Bell, which harmed Taco Bell customers.
Alleged implicated AI system: Omilia voice-AI drive-thru ordering system

Incident Stats

Incident ID
1274
Report Count
3
Incident Date
2025-08-29
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Applied Taxonomies
MIT

MIT Taxonomy Classifications

Machine-Classified
Taxonomy Details

Risk Subdomain

7.3. Lack of capability or robustness

Risk Domain

  1. AI system safety, failures, and limitations

Entity

AI

Timing

Post-deployment

Intent

Unintentional

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Taco Bell Rethinks Future of Voice AI at the Drive-Through
wsj.com · 2025

The most transformative technology in over a century may have finally found its limit: ordering tacos.

Since last year, Taco Bell has rolled out voice AI-powered ordering at more than 500 drive-through locations, and now the chain is realiz…

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Taco Bell AI drive-thru rollout stalls after trolls order 18,000 water cups
cybernews.com · 2025

Taco Bell's bold AI drive-thru experiment hit a wall after trolls exposed its flaws when one ordered 18,000 water cups in a viral prank that forced the fast food giant to rethink its high-tech rollout.

I remember ("back in the day" alert) o…

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Taco Bell rethinks AI drive-through after man orders 18,000 waters
bbc.com · 2025

Taco Bell is rethinking its use of artificial intelligence (AI) to power drive-through restaurants in the US after comical videos of the tech making mistakes were viewed millions of times.

In one clip, a customer seemingly crashed the syste…

Variants

A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
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