Ever get your McDonald’s order mixed up at an AI-powered drive-thru? The experiment behind the fast food giant’s current automated order taker will soon be coming to a close.

McDonald’s confirmed Monday that it decided to end a global partnership with IBM, which has been testing this artificial intelligence technology at select McDonald’s drive-thrus since 2021.

That doesn’t mean you’ll never encounter some sort of chatbot while picking up fries on your car ride home again. While the IBM partnership for McDonald’s current automated order taker test is winding down, the Chicago-based company suggested that it wasn’t ruling other any other potential AI drive-thru plans down the road — pointing to “an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly.”

High inflation curbs spending

Consumers barely increased spending in May from April as still high prices on groceries and other necessities and high interest rates curbed spending.

Retail sales rose 0.1% in May, below the pace that economists projected, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. And April sales were revised downward — a 0.2% decline, from unchanged. Sales rose 0.6% in March and 0.9% in February. That comes after sales fell 1.1% in January, dragged down in part by inclement weather.

Excluding gas prices and auto sales, retail sales rose the same amount.

Retail sales in May, in part, were depressed by falling gas prices. Excluding sales from gasoline, sales were up 0.3%. The national average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline was $3.45 as of Monday; a month ago, it was $3.59, AAA said.