Commentary
Starbucks Adding 4,000 AI-Enabled Coffee Machines
- by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, February 3, 2020
Artificial intelligence is being added into the coffee mix at Starbucks.
The company is adding 4,000 AI-enabled espresso machines to its stores this year, according to Kevin Johnson, Starbucks CEO, on a Starbucks earnings conference call last week.
Starbucks added 1,9000 of the Mastrena 2 coffee machines last year and is now increasing the deployment of its AI initiative called Deep Brew.
“We have been dialing up our in-house capabilities and investments in AI,” Johnson stated late last year. “Deep Brew will increasingly power our personalization engine, optimize store labor allocations and drive inventory management in our stores. Deep Brew is a key differentiator for the future and as we continue our quest to build world-class AI capabilities to better support partners.”
The AI technology allows the tracking of coffee making in the stores with the AI-enabled machines, which also can monitor themselves for potential maintenance needed.
Like much of the Internet of Things technology being deployed today, the AI machines aim to assist the people making the product, in this case coffee, rather than replace them.
Chuck Martin is Editor of the AI & IoT Daily at MediaPost and writes the daily Connected Thinking column. He is a NY Times Business bestselling author and his latest book is “Digital Transformation 3.0” (The New Business-to-Consumer Connections of The Internet of Things.) He is CEO of Net Future Institute and a frequent keynote speaker internationally. Follow him on Twitter @chuckmartin and contact him at Chuck@MediaPost.com.
AI helping humans sounds betetr and safer than AI doing the whole work themselves. At least no rist in humans losing their jobs.