The news: Starbucks is exploring ways to use AI to improve the customer experience, CEO Brian Niccol said during the company’s fiscal Q4 2026 earnings call.

Some initiatives will be consumer-facing.

• Starbucks aims to simplify in-app search and discovery, and may eventually enable conversational and agentic ordering.
• The company is investigating ways to make it easier for customers to place mobile orders from their cars and via emerging AI platforms.
• Starbucks is also experimenting with using AI to recognize customers as they arrive in drive-thrus, offer personalized menus, and simplify payments.

Other tests will focus on supporting employees. Starbucks will begin testing background AI models in drive-thrus in fiscal 2027 to help baristas enter orders more accurately and efficiently, freeing up time to interact with customers.

The big picture: AI use is becoming the norm among restaurant operators, with nearly 9 in 10 experimenting with AI tools and 87% saying they are comfortable with the technology, according to Toast’s 2026 Voice of the Restaurant Industry survey. Operators are generally pleased with AI’s performance, with 85% planning to use the technology more and a similar share saying they trusted AI to improve efficiency and deliver value.

But QSRs may soon find that their enthusiastic embrace of AI is tempered by consumers’ desire to interact with a human. Diners overwhelmingly prefer human interaction when ordering in restaurants or at drive-thrus, according to an August Ipsos poll. Rather than using AI to automate drive-thru ordering, as chains like McDonald’s and Bojangles are looking to do, Starbucks’ approach of using the technology to support employees and improve the customer experience may be more effective at leaving diners with positive impressions.

Implications for QSRs: AI can help enhance efficiency and service without hiring more employees. However, companies that lean too heavily on automation in customer service settings risk making interactions feel transactional, limiting opportunities to build goodwill toward the brand and stand out from competitors.

Instead, QSRs should focus on using the technology to empower employees to offer better service, rather than replace them in customer-facing interactions.