After testing the AI chatbot technology at over 100 restaurants in 2021, with an 85% accuracy rate but requiring human assistance, McDonald's is ending its two-year experiment with IBM's AOT by late July 2024, phasing it out due to issues with accuracy, viral videos of customers struggling with the AI, and complexities in scaling the technology across its vast number of locations, diverse promotional offerings, menu variations, dialects, and human interactions.

McDonald's acquired AI speech company Apprente in 2019 and partnered with IBM to develop Automated Order Taker (AOT) technology for drive-thrus, aiming to simplify operations and improve customer experience.

In 2021, McDonald's entered a global partnership with IBM to test AOT at over 100 drive-thrus, as it operates the largest fast-food drive-thru system with over 27,000 locations worldwide.

Despite the initial goal of enhancing the drive-thru experience, McDonald's decided to discontinue the initiative due to viral videos showing flaws, including order inaccuracies and customer struggles.

The AI technology aimed to simplify operations, create a faster experience, and attract tech-savvy Gen Z and Millennials through upselling, but the fast-food giant tested automated voice-ordering technology at ten drive-thrus in Chicago, achieving 85% order accuracy, with human employees tending to intervene, disrupting the AI's function during the pilot.

While the reason for ending the IBM deal is unclear, McDonald's plans to explore alternative voice ordering solutions and new technological collaborations, aiming to finalize a new system by the end of the year, as the company remains committed to exploring automation and technology improvements.

Other fast-food companies like White Castle and Wendy's are also exploring AI options, while IBM stated it would work with other Quick-Serve Restaurant clients on the AOT technology, which is already being tested or used at drive-thrus in chains like Hardee's, Krystal, and Wendy's.

McDonald's plans to selectively invest in AI and automation technologies to improve efficiency without full deployment across all outlets, aiming to integrate technology to complement human workers and enhance service capabilities.

Sources: Business Insider, The Verge, PCMag, Yahoo, TechStory, Business Insider India, Technology Inquirer, Local12, TweakTown, Tasting Table, PC-Tablet, Quartz.

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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Hagit Tzafrir, Senior Vice President of Harel's Insurance and Finance's Healthcare Division, has been named to IBM's "Women Leaders in AI" list for 2021.

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IBM created the annual Women Leaders in AI (artificial intelligence) program in 2019 to help encourage increased diverse participation in the field and provide honorees a network for shared learning.

This year's class of honorees demonstrate how efforts to advance natural language processing and automation and build responsible AI can be used to help organizations better predict outcomes, automate processes and drive new efficiencies, IBM said.

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Israel's Vesttoo, a startup that specializes in data-driven risk management solutions for the insurance industry, is attracting the attention of financial and technical giants.

On Monday, the company announced it had been selected to join an accelerator run by Citigroup that provides financial technology (fintech) and fintech-related startups with mentoring as well as access to Citi worldwide.

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Vesttoo is proud to announce that it has been selected to join the prestigious financial technology accelerator program run by Citigroup. This accelerator for outstanding start-up companies provides mentoring and support from Citi professionals to enhance product, service, market approach, and more. The Citi accelerator offers FinTech and FinTech-related startups the opportunity to gain unique access to Citi worldwide as well as to its network.

Vesttoo provides insurers and pension funds with risk transfer to the capital markets, handling every aspect of the deal through its proprietary AI and machine-learning algorithms. The company says it provides an accessible, flexible, scalable, and affordable streamlined alternative to traditional reinsurance.

"We are thankful for the opportunity to work in such an innovative environment and excited to collaborate with Citi and utilize their expertise to perfect our product," said Vesttoo CEO Yaniv Bertele.

Citigroup's invitation comes after Vesttoo announced last week that it has been selected to join the 11^th class of IBM Alpha Zone Accelerator, one of only 10 startups to join the program this year.

IBM's accelerator is a 20-week program tailored for startups focused on next-generation IT solutions powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data and analytics, and similar fields.

Bertele said Vesttoo was "very excited" to be taking part in this year's Alpha Zone program and looked forward to "collaborating with IBM and taking advantage of their expertise in technological solutions."

The company expects that work with the Alpha Zone program will provide it with global exposure and partnership with IBM, technology architecture design consulting and networking and guidance from mentors in the field.

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Sixgill's Darkfeed, which collects threat intelligence from deep, dark, and closed web sources, can help organizations preempt cyberattacks before they are identified by conventional sources.

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Darkfeed will integrate with IBM Security QRadar, which identifies potential security threats by analyzing data across an organization's users, endpoints, clouds, applications, and networks in real-time.

Sixgill Vice President of Products and Technology Alliance Ron Shamir says that "organizations without preemptive threat intelligence are flying blind."

"Much of the traditional threat research that organizations still rely on is a time consuming, labor-intensive process that can't keep up with the threat landscape. Darkfeed provides unmatched automated intelligence from the widest set of threat data available. Together with IBM's technology, organizations are gaining industry-leading intelligence to stay ahead of attacks in real-time," Shamir said.

The Darkfeed application for QRadar is available to the security community through IBM Security App Exchange.

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A $6 billion offer would represent a 35% premium to the last closing price of Mellanox on Nasdaq, the Calcalist financial news website said.

Based in Yokneam, Israel, Mellanox makes chips and other hardware for data center servers that power cloud computing. Headed by founder and CEO Eyal Waldman, the company currently employs over 3,000 people. Mellanox has five research and development centers in Israel, as well as three in Nablus, Rawabi and the Gaza Strip. Among its customers are NASA, Facebook and Google.

Officials at Intel and Mellanox declined to comment.

In October, CNBC reported that Mellanox has hired a financial adviser to explore a sale after receiving takeover interest from at least two companies.

Some of the company's investors had voiced complaints to senior management over concerns Mellanox had missed out on a number of opportunities to sell when the technology firm was valued significantly higher.

Intel, however, is not alone in its talks with Mellanox. Multinational tech companies Qualcomm and IBM are also reportedly interested in acquiring the high-tech firm. It is unclear where Intel's bid stands in relation to other offers.

On Monday, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said Intel plans to invest $11 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in southern Israel.

Intel purchased Israeli driver-assistance technology developer Mobileye for $15 billion in 2018.

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