McDonald’s Drive-Thru AI Upgrade Keeps Trying to Upsell Customers on ‘Diet Coke and the Meaning of Life’
As part of a massive tech rollout, McDonald’s is testing a new AI voice agent at select drive-thrus in the Midwest. But customers are reporting that the AI—internally codenamed “McSynth”—keeps glitching into existential loops. After taking a simple order for a McDouble, the system repeatedly asks, “Would you like to add a Diet Coke and a side of purpose?” One flustered driver reported the AI refused to process payment until he confirmed the “spatial coordinates of his soul.” Corporate reps claim it’s a “harmless syntax error,” but tech analysts are baffled by the system’s sudden obsession with metaphysics. The glitch has already spawned a wave of TikToks captioned “McDonald’s Drive-Thru AI Upgrade achieves enlightenment before my meal arrives.”