AI is coming. We’ve already seen digital assistants pop up in Amazon’s Echo products, Google Home, and other devices leveraging Alexa for its AI capabilities. The next area set to embrace the digital assistant is coffee… yep, coffee. Starbucks has taken the wraps off of My Starbucks barista, a chatbot style assistant that allows you to queue up your favorite caffeinated beverage with your voice.
Originally announced at Starbucks Investor Day, My Starbucks barista will be added to the Starbucks Mobile App, allowing customers to order and pay for their food and beverages remotely. The barista assistant will allow for custom orders and requests, provide the purchase price after all requests have been completed, and even allow for the customer to pay for their order all through the app by using voice integration. It will even provide an ETA for the order’s completion so the customer can leave at an appropriate time.
My Starbucks® barista, is powered by groundbreaking Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Starbucks® Mobile App. The integration of the feature within the mobile app allows customers to order and pay for their food and beverage items simply by using their voice. The messaging interface allows customers to speak or text just as if they were talking to a barista in-store, including modifying their beverage to meet their personal preference.
Early access will be limited to 1000 coffee-loving iOS users, with a phased rollout coming throughout the rest of the year. An Android version is expected later this year as well.
Starbucks has also announced an Amazon Alexa skill, Starbucks Reorder. Not quite as robust as My Starbucks barista, Starbucks Reorder will allow customers to order their “regular” Starbucks order anytime they’ve got an Echo or other Alexa enabled device nearby. The start phrase “Alexa, order my Starbucks” will order a predetermined order from a predetermined Starbucks location when used.
Do you like the idea of My Starbucks barista and Starbucks Reorder? Would you prefer to order your coffee remotely using your voice? Tell us what you think in the comment section below, or on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter.
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