Burger King fans have been left feeling like they’re living in an episode of Black Mirror, after learning about a new technology the chain is currently testing.

Restaurant Brands International, the owner of Burger King, confirmed this week that it’s trialling an OpenAI-powered chatbot inside headsets across 500 restaurants in the US, with a plan to later roll it out nationwide.

The AI chatbot, known as ‘Patty’, can talk to employees through the headsets, and is intended to be a ‘coaching tool’, according to Thibault Roux, Burger King’s chief digital officer in the US and Canada.

Patty will combine data across several aspects of the business, including drive-thru conversations, stock levels, and kitchen equipment. Staff will be able to ask the chatbot questions, such as how to make burgers and for instructions on cleaning equipment like the milkshake machine. 

It is also being trained to ‘measure friendliness’ by recognising certain words such as ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘welcome to Burger King’ and the chain is said to be looking into ‘capturing the tone of conversations’ too, according to The Verge. 

Other functions include the ability to alert employees to issues, such as a drinks machine being low on Coca-Cola, and flagging issues that customers have reported, such as messy toilets.

And as Patty is Integrated with Burger King’s cloud-based point-of-sale system, it can completely remove a product that’s not available from all digital menus and kiosks within 15 minutes, to avoid customer disappointment. 

Roux claims the technology is something Burger King is ‘tinkering with’ but acknowledges it’s a ‘risky bet’, as it’s not something ‘every guest is ready for’.

And he’s certainly not wrong.

On social media there’s been quite a lot of backlash to the trial already, with Facebook users branding it ‘dystopian’, comparing it to something out of a ‘Black Mirror’ episode, and claiming it’s made them feel as if they are ‘living in hell’.

Following this, Burger King has reiterated that Patty is intended as a ‘coaching tool’ and not a way for the company to ‘track or evaluate staff saying specific words or phrases’.

A spokesperson for the company told The Grocer: ‘BK Assistant is a coaching and operational support tool built to help our restaurant teams manage complexity and stay focused on delivering a great guest experience.

‘It’s not about scoring individuals or enforcing scripts. It’s about reinforcing great hospitality and giving managers helpful, real-time insights so they can recognise their teams more effectively.’

It has not yet been confirmed whether Burger King UK could start utilising this technology. Metro has contacted the fast food chain for further comment. 

A former Colorado businessman who grabbed the neck of a 15-year-old boy and tossed him to the ground when the teen slashed water on his wife inside an In-N-Out avoided jail time because of a sweetheart plea deal.

Lucas Kalisher, 57, was handed 30 months of probation Monday for his rage-filled attack captured in a viral video at the Loveland, Colo., fast food joint on Aug. 4, 2024.

Kalisher, the ex-CEO of Boulder-based private equity firm Summit Source Funding, was initially arrested and charged with felony assault in the second degree with strangulation and misdemeanor child abuse before making the plea deal with Colorado’s 8th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, KDVR reported.

As part of the plea deal, Kalisher has to complete an anger management evaluation and subsequent treatment, write an apology letter to the teen, 120 hours of community service and pay all restitution to the victim, the outlet reported.

If Kalisher fails to meet the probation terms, he faces a class 5 felony that carries one to three years in prison, two years of parole, and a $100,000 fine.

The teen was reportedly “engaging in horseplay by splashing water” with his two friends before he “accidentally splashed” Kalisher’s wife.

“The juvenile male approached her table to apologize when an adult male accompanying the woman suddenly grabbed him, placed both hands around the front and back of his neck, pulled him down to the table and threw him backward onto the floor,” Loveland police said.

The video, posted to Facebook, captured Kalisher, then 55, ordering the startled boy to apologize before placing the teen in a chokehold and then hurling him onto the tile floor.

“You don’t treat a lady that way,” Kalisher said.

A father of one of the teens shared the video, asking for help identifying Kalisher after his son’s friend was “assaulted by a full-grown man.”

Customers inside the restaurant called out Kalisher for “picking on a kid like that.”

Kalisher and his wife fled the restaurant before cops arrived but he was later turned himself in to the police later that night after a no-bond arrest warrant was issued for him.

In April 2025, Kalisher had pleaded not guilty on the charges, according to the Loveland Reporter-Herald. He was released on $75,000 bond.