--- title: "Starbucks Scraps Disastrous AI Tool" description: "Starbucks has scrapped an AI tool for inventory management less than a year after deploying it across its North American locations." date: "2026-05-22" modified: "2026-05-22" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/starbucks-scraps-disastrous-ai-tool" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" --- # Starbucks Scraps Disastrous AI Tool ![Starbucks Coffee circular sign with the iconic twin-tailed mermaid logo, mounted on a green bracket attached to a building. The background is an orange grid pattern. The sign is black and white with bold text.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images* Hold onto your pumpkin spice lattes, because Starbucks is canning its AI tool after it turned out to be a total disaster, [*Reuters* reports](), less than year after it debuted. The tool, which was deployed across its North American stores, was designed to automate inventory management with the goal of providing accurate real-time information that could help Starbucks address ingredient shortages at its locations. But according to [previous *Reuters* reporting](), the error-prone AI frequently miscounted and mislabeled items, confusing different types of milk and sometimes forgetting to count them altogether. Now, it's getting the axe. "Starting today, Automated Counting will be retired," read an internal company newsletter from Monday obtained by the news agency. "Beverage components and milk will now be counted the same way you count other inventory categories in your coffeehouse." Having lasted just nine months, the AI experiment stuck around longer than some of the coffee chain's seasonal drink offerings, but didn't approach anywhere near the level of permanent revolutionary impact the tech promises, or indeed the company was hoping for. You also have to wonder if a human employee who couldn't do the bare minimum of counting stuff would be shown anywhere near the same amount of leeway the AI got at the chain [infamous for its union busting](). In any case, it's a quick reversal from Starbucks. It was only in February that it told *Reuters* that the AI already helped improve product availability. On Thursday, it only explained that the AI program's termination was part of a decision to "standardize how inventory is counted across coffeehouses as we continue to focus on consistency and execution at scale." The tool, built by NomadGo, was intended to allow employees to "count everything in your inventory... with just a wave of a smartphone or tablet," its website claims. In practice, employees held up a company tablet in front of shelves stocked with ingredients like syrups and milks, and the app scanned it with lidar and a camera, per *Reuters*. Also in practice: it didn't always work. In an embarrassing augury of things to come, it failed to recognize a peppermint syrup bottle in an official video Starbucks uploaded when the collaboration was announced. This is only the latest questionable example of restaurants, an industry far-removed from tech, trying to embrace AI that ultimately backfires. Earlier this week, one of Pizza Hut's largest franchisees sued the pie-slinging chain [over its mandatory deployment of an AI-powered kitchen management system](), alleging that it dramatically slowed down delivery times and caused over $100 million in losses. This also isn't Starbucks first foray with the tech. Last month, it collaborated with OpenAI to allow customers to [place orders through ChatGPT](), a feature that quickly [became a laughingstock online](). **More on AI:** [*Finance Bros Tremble in Fear That They Could Be Replaced by AI Too*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()