Burger King Puts an AI Coach Named 'Patty' in Employee Headsets

Burger King just gave its employees a new coworker — and she lives inside their headsets. Meet Patty, an OpenAI-powered voice chatbot designed to ride along during shifts.

Patty handles a few key jobs. She offers real-time coaching, helps with meal prep, and even evaluates employee interactions for "friendliness." Yes, an AI is now grading how nice you are to customers at the drive-through.

The chatbot is embedded directly into the headsets workers already use, making it a persistent presence rather than an optional tool. It's a bold move in the fast food industry's growing embrace of AI — shifting from customer-facing ordering bots to tools that monitor and guide the humans behind the counter.

Whether employees find Patty helpful or just another form of surveillance remains to be seen. But the flame-grilled future is officially AI-powered.