How about a self-aware computerized ordering kiosk that profiles you by facial features, ethnicity, age, and gender? As Americans I doubt that would go down well here as our society is notoriously very politically correct but that certainly won’t stop China from doing it in their fast food restaurants that have American corporate roots including Yum Brands – KFC that’s right Kentucky Fried Chicken.

There was an interesting article on Kiosk Marketplace News recently, published on December 28, 2016 titled; “KFC China Develops Customer Facial Recognition Technology to Suggest Menu Items”, with excerpts also taken from The Daily Pot explaining how;

“The technology reads facial expressions and other visual information, such as age and gender, to determine how people with similar traits typically order. The technology then matches those preferences with the appropriate menu items. KFC is working with Baidu, a Chinese web services company, to turn this idea into reality. Machines will look at a customer’s age, gender, and facial expressions to make their best guess. If a 5-year-old is shown on camera, the kiosk should suggest a kids menu. Adult comes in at 8am, might be time for some cookies.”

The customer can then view the suggestions, make changes or reject them; Either way, the AI ​​machine will remember your face and change the suggestions next time to better follow your variations in desired tastes and, over time, tweak those suggestions with all people with similar facial features. It will attempt to make adjustments to more accurately meet the customer’s preferences during the next visit.

Can you imagine how horrified people in the US would be if such machines existed here? I can hear the “racist” boycott of these fast food outlets if a machine noticed that someone is a black athlete and suggested more “white meat” fried chicken because it would naturally have more L-tyrosine to build muscle, simply because the artificial intelligence behind the kiosk machine noted the athletic facial features such as a squarer jawline and darker skin, noting that the individual was black, with faster muscle contraction, and assumed this is the type of food the person should be eating or would enjoy. eating. If the kiosk tried to suggest a watermelon soda, the BLM would likely stage citywide protests, as that would be going too far.

Similarly, people would be upset if the machine, seeing a Hispanic woman with a round face, suggested; plus mashed potatoes and salsa + giant drink + tortillas on the side and bucket of spicy Mexican style chicken. And it’s not that this might be a perfectly reasonable consideration, one that the big woman might like, it’s that it crosses the line with cultural stereotypes. Even if she didn’t offend any of these guests individually, I bet we’d all be a little offended by such a scheme. So let’s think about where we want all these artificial intelligence stereotypes to go, how far is too far? Yes, a heavy topic that I know, so think about it. Be cool, don’t hesitate.