Dairy Queen rolls out AI chatbot to drive-thrus in US and Canada

Dairy Queen is expanding AI chatbot technology to dozens of its drive-thrus across the US and Canada, part of a broader industry shift toward automated ordering. The chatbot, built by Presto, follows a test conducted last year during a promotional period. The company stated during that test that the system handled high-volume ordering without degradation.

Presto's system achieves approximately 90 percent accuracy on order processing, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal. The company's technology is already in use at other chains including Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Taco John's, and Fazoli's. Dairy Queen has not disclosed which franchises will receive the technology.

The wider landscape of fast-food AI deployment shows mixed outcomes. Wendy's has experimented with Google-powered chatbots since 2023. McDonald's briefly piloted a similar system, and Taco Bell leadership acknowledged customer frustration and trolling attempts directed at its chatbot version, prompting a review of rollout strategy. Burger King is testing the technology in fewer than 100 locations and separately piloting a chatbot integrated into employee headsets to measure interaction tone.

Earlier reporting from Bloomberg in 2023 documented that Presto's drive-thru systems incorporate human workers—some based internationally—to handle edge cases and augment real-time performance, a fact that complicates marketing claims about fully autonomous systems.