McDonald's seems to be changing the direction of its artificial intelligence (AI) plan. According to reports, the fast food giant is about to end its "AI Ordering" partnership with IBM, but insists that AI will have a place in the future of its drive-thru service.

McDonald's will reportedly stop testing its AI ordering technology in more than 100 of its drive-thru restaurants across the US. According to a memo obtained by the media that was sent to franchisees last week, the so-called automatic order receiver will be shut down no later than July 26. Analysts claim that this could become an obstacle to the fast food industry's rapid promotion of artificial intelligence.

It is understood that McDonald's cooperation with IBM began in 2021. The combination of the two companies' technologies was aimed at simplifying and speeding up operations by voice-activated ordering.

Mason Smoot, senior vice president and chief restaurant officer for McDonald's USA, said in the memo to franchisees, "While we have been successful to date, we believe there is an opportunity to explore voice-based solutions more widely. After careful evaluation, McDonald's has decided to terminate its current AOT (automatic order processing) arrangement with IBM."

"IBM is still a trusted partner, and we will continue to use many of their other products in our systems," he added.

Two sources familiar with the technology said that the challenges faced by the technology included the inability to understand different accents and dialects, which affected the accuracy of orders. McDonald's said in a statement that while it was ending its partnership with IBM, it did not rule out the possibility of future AI drive-thru services.

"As we continue to evolve, our partnership with IBM has given us confidence that voice-based ordering solutions will be part of our restaurant future. We see tremendous opportunities to elevate the restaurant experience with technology and will continue to evaluate long-term, scalable solutions that will help us make informed decisions about our future voice ordering solutions by the end of this year," the statement said.

IBM said in a statement that it would work with McDonald's on "various other projects" after the test ended. The company also said, "IBM is currently in discussions and pilots with several fast-food customers who are interested in AOT technology."

Although McDonald's future AI plans are unclear, all eyes will be on Google, which is owned by Alphabet. At its investor day last December, McDonald's announced a new partnership with Google Cloud, but neither company provided specific details.

"We're excited to see McDonald's leveraging our generative AI, cloud, and edge computing tools to improve their iconic dining experience for global employees and customers," said Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai at the time in a statement.