Have you ever had to call some kind of business, only to have some automated voice machine answer? Sure you have. It's 2023. If you haven't had this happen, you live off the grid or don't have a phone. Just thinking about the different sets of buttons you have to click through to finally get the answer to your question is making me irritated.

You know that if you could just talk to a real person and explain what your problem is, it could be solved in a matter of seconds, as opposed to minutes. As automated answering machines have become more and more popular, so have Artificial Intelligence Chat Bots.

The next time you head through your favorite Wendy's drive-through...you might not be ordering from a real person. The Matrix Movies might've been right. Machines might be taking over.

The red-headed fast food giant known as Wendy's has partnered with Google to give artificial intelligence chatbots a trial run, according to Tech Spot.

Software engineers at Wendy's have supposedly been working with Google to change the language model for keywords and phrases that relate specifically to Wendy's menu. Menu items such as "biggie bag" or "milkshake" have been added to the AI's vocabulary. Wendy's milkshakes are more commonly referred to as Frosty's so the engineers are trying to make sure the AI Chatbots have every possible reference available in their database.

Todd Penegor is Wendy's Chief Executive and according to Tech Spot, he's not sure people will notice a difference between the bots and a real person. He said,

The test bots will be very conversational and some customers might not even realize they aren't talking to a human employee.

Why AI Chat Bots?

This is probably a pretty easy thing to guess and you can make your guess by using one word.

Money. The chatbots will be programmed to try and upsell Wendy's customers, which isn't really a big shock to anyone but the hope is that these bots can help reduce long lines from forming, which can deter people from getting in line. It will be interesting to see how Wendy's handles problems that may occur if one of these bots happens to malfunction.

Another thing that would be a surprise to no one...tech issues happen all the time with anyone who works with or on computers. Will these long lines be reduced if a chatbot malfunctions or is there a backup plan?

Whether you're a fan of this idea or not, Iowans won't be talking to Wendy's chatbots any time soon. These initial test runs will take place at the company-owned location in Ohio, beginning in June.

Are you a fan of this? Not a fan? Do you care? If you have a son or daughter in school who isn't sure what they want to do with their lives, explain to them how important learning a trade will be in the very near future or tell them to learn everything they can about computers. The machines are coming.