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AI voice company SoundHound has acquired the food-ordering platform Allset, which operates as a comprehensive system for ordering food via cars, TVs, and smart devices. As per the announcement, Allset’s team, including founders Stas Mativiyenko and Anna Polischuk, will join SoundHound. Additionally, Allset’s restaurant partnerships will transition to SoundHound and gain access to its AI voice technology.
The acquisition follows a trend where fast food brands are reevaluating the use of AI for customer interactions. For instance, McDonald’s paused a project with IBM that utilized AI for automated order-taking in drive-thrus due to several order errors shared on social media. This initiative began in 2021.
SoundHound specializes in voice recognition and generative AI to enhance voice assistants for restaurants, automotive systems, and smart home devices. The company has collaborated with the fast food chain White Castle to test AI voices for drive-through orders. Their clientele also includes automotive companies like Stellantis, Hyundai, Kia, and Honda. Moreover, they have teamed up with AI search platform Perplexity to support SoundHound’s AI assistant. Founded in 2015, Allset offers an alternative to traditional delivery apps.
Expanding on voice ordering, SoundHound mentioned that acquiring Allset provides valuable experience in the food industry and introduces technology that allows consumers to order food and other items simply by speaking naturally. Keyvan Mohajer, co-founder and CEO of SoundHound, expressed their plans to offer dynamic and convenient ways for people to place orders and complete various transactions using natural language.
For the past few years, restaurants and fast food chains have been exploring generative AI to manage customer orders and enhance service quality. For example, Wendy’s collaborates with Google on its FreshAI platform, which employs AI voice recognition to interpret customer orders in drive-thrus. Before pausing its AI order-taking project, McDonald’s executives shared at the VentureBeat Transform event that they have utilized AI for predictive analytics and data insights.