Chick-fil-A is keeping humans at the drive-thru while McDonald’s tests AI ordering and defends a separate pricing algorithm in court

The fast-food industry has spent decades trying to make ordering a burger faster.

Digital menus, mobile apps, self-service kiosks—you name it.

Now, artificial intelligence wants a turn at the drive-thru speaker.

But at Chick-fil-A, the familiar “my pleasure” still needs to come from a human.

While McDonald’s is testing AI-powered voice ordering at its drive-thrus, Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy says his restaurants won’t follow suit.

The chicken chain isn’t rejecting AI altogether, but it believes some parts of the fast-food experience are better left to humans, even if technology could make them more efficient.

McDonald’s is also defending a different kind of algorithm in court.

A new lawsuit alleges its pricing recommendation system helped coordinate higher menu prices, claims the company denies.

The two technologies are separate, but both put a spotlight on how much control restaurants are willing to hand over to AI—and how much responsibility remains with the people using it.

Why Chick-fil-A is keeping people at the speaker Chick-fil-A calls its approach to technology “human plus.” The company is exploring AI behind the scenes but won’t use it to replace drive-thru order-takers, Cathy told CNBC .

“We’re not gonna substitute that interaction with technology, because we feel like that hospitality is so important to create that warm environment for consumers,” he said.

Alex Susskind, a Cornell University professor who studies restaurant operations and hospitality technology, sees the logic.

Chick-fil-A’s drive-thrus often have employees standing outside with tablets, taking orders and directing cars through lines that can stretch around the building.

Those human interactions, he told Fortune , make the wait more tolerable .