AI VoiceTechnology CompanySoundHoundRecently announced the acquisition of food ordering platformAllset, which may completely change people's dining experience. Allset claims to be a complete ecosystem for ordering food through cars, TVs and smart devices. This acquisition means that SoundHound has taken a key step in the field of smart voice ordering.
According to Allset's statement, its founders Stas Mativiyenko and Anna Polischuk and other core employees will join SoundHound. More importantly, Allset's partnership with restaurants will also be transferred to SoundHound, and these restaurants will have the opportunity to use SoundHound's AI voice products, potentially opening a new era of smart food ordering.
Source Note: The image is generated by AI, and the image is authorized by Midjourney
However, behind this acquisition is the entire fast food industry's rethinking of client-side AI applications. Not long ago, fast food giant McDonald's announced the suspension of its AI automatic order-taking project in cooperation with IBM. The project started in 2021 and aims to automatically process orders in drive-through pickup lanes through AI technology. But after a series of order errors on social media, McDonald's had to stop this ambitious plan.
At the same time, SoundHound is rapidly expanding its business. The company not only provides speech recognition and generative AI models for restaurants, but also extends its tentacles to automotive systems and smart home devices. Last year, SoundHound partnered with the fast food chain White Castle to try to use AI voice to process orders in the drive-through pickup channel. In addition, the company has also established partnerships with several well-known automakers such as Stellantis, Hyundai, Kia and Honda.
SoundHound's ambitions don't stop there. The company has also partnered with AI search platform Perplexity to provide support for its AI assistant, demonstrating its determination to deploy AI technology in multiple fields.
Allset was founded in 2015 and was originally positioned as an alternative to delivery apps. The acquisition by SoundHound will undoubtedly bring it a broader space for development. However, facing the setbacks encountered by giants such as McDonald's in AI applications, whether SoundHound's gamble will succeed remains to be tested by time.