Do we need humans for that job? Automation booms after Covid

Drinks surround a barcode attached to the table at Bartaco, that patrons use to order and pay at the restaurant in Arlington, Virginia. — AP

Ask for a roast beef sandwich at an Arby’s drive-thru east of Los Angeles and you may be talking to Tori – an artificially intelligent voice assistant that will take your order and send it to the line cooks.

“It doesn’t call in sick,” says Amir Siddiqi, whose family installed the AI voice at its Arby’s franchise this year in Ontario, California. “It doesn’t get corona. And the reliability of it is great.”