Starbucks is using artificial intelligence and voice recognition to make ordering your favorite drink a little easier. 

My Starbucks barista is a new feature that’s been integrated into Starbucks Mobile Order & Pay for iOS. Starbucks is also launching a Starbucks Reorder Skill on the Amazon Alexa platform, the company announced. 

“The Starbucks experience is built on the personal connection between our barista and customer, so everything we do in our digital ecosystem must reflect that sensibility,” said Gerri Martin-Flickinger, chief technology officer for Starbucks. “Our team is focused on making sure that Starbucks voice ordering within our app is truly personal and equally important was finding the right partner in Amazon to test and learn from this new capability.”

“The Starbucks experience is built on the personal connection between our barista and customer, so everything we do in our digital ecosystem must reflect that sensibility.”
GERRI MARTIN-FLICKINGER

“These initial releases are easy to use providing a direct benefit to customers within their daily routine and we are confident that this is the right next step in creating convenient moments to complement our more immersive formats. We expect to learn a lot from these experiences and to evolve them over time.”

The beta test of My Starbucks barista will be available to 1,000 customers nationwide with plans for a continued phased rollout through summer. An Android version will follow later this year, according to a media release. Customers will even be able to modify their drink orders using voice or text. 

The Amazon Alexa platform will also use order and pay technology, allowing customers to place their “usual” order and pay for it before they get to the store.

Are you one of the beta testers? Tell us about your experience by emailing our editor, Jana J. Pruet at [email protected]. 

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