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.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: 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
Risk Subdomain
A further 23 subdomains create an accessible and understandable classification of hazards and harms associated with AI
7.3. Lack of capability or robustness
Risk Domain
The Domain Taxonomy of AI Risks classifies risks into seven AI risk domains: (1) Discrimination & toxicity, (2) Privacy & security, (3) Misinformation, (4) Malicious actors & misuse, (5) Human-computer interaction, (6) Socioeconomic & environmental harms, and (7) AI system safety, failures & limitations.
- AI system safety, failures, and limitations
Entity
Which, if any, entity is presented as the main cause of the risk
AI
Timing
The stage in the AI lifecycle at which the risk is presented as occurring
Post-deployment
Intent
Whether the risk is presented as occurring as an expected or unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Unintentional
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
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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 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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