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Australia

Dilip Rao, a former Ripple executive who's now leading Australia’s CBDC pilot has been examining 14 possible use cases of central bank digital currencies.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) may not solve any problems faced today, but could be the answer to ones not even fathomed yet, says the executive spearheading Australia’s CBDC pilot.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Dilip Rao, a former Ripple executive who's now spearheading Australia’s in-pilot CBDC research project, believes a central bank-issued currency could be built for use cases not yet considered:

“It may not solve a problem today, but maybe it solves a problem the day after tomorrow.”

Rao serves as the research program director at the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) which is collaborating with the Reserve Bank to explore use cases of a potential CBDC.

Rao, however, said the question is yet to be answered why individuals would want or need to use one.

One possible future use, Rao explained, could be large institutions trading tokenized assets on marketplaces that may prefer using a CBDC to mitigate risks.

Big shout out to attendees at the #AustralianCBDCPilot Conference last Friday - 100 in person and over 150 online!

15 use cases demonstrated, three panels offered deeper insights into the #futureofmoney!

Thanks @RBAInfo, @DigiFinanceCRC, Treasury and all industry partners! pic.twitter.com/0wvNrMechi
— diliprao (@diliprao) May 29, 2023

Australia’s CBDC pilot is examining 14 possible use cases. Rao said the report on those tests — yet to be released — will narrow down which would deserve further exploration.

“You don’t necessarily need a CBDC in every use case,” he said. He added “people have to see value” in a CBDC if it's to be widely adopted.

Another hurdle for a CBDC, at least in Australia, would be the required legislative changes that need public backing.

For such changes to make it through parliament “politicians have to come on board,” said Rao, which would require a wide amount of public consultation.

Such consultation would focus on solving the “problems that people want solved,” according to Rao. “No politician is gonna do something that will lose votes," he added.

“You have to go through [...] Solving those problems, whether with technology or with legislation to make sure that people were comfortable with what you were doing.”

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AIs and fries: Wendy’s to trial chatbot drive-thru operator

May 10, 2023 Coin Telegraph

artificial intelligence

Wendy’s says its "FreshAI" bot reduces costs allowing funds to be focused elsewhere, others worry that eventually, those less skilled will be jobless.

An artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot dubbed "Wendy’s FreshAI," will take orders from Wendy's drive-thru customers after the fast-food chain partnered with Google Cloud to create the bot.

Over three-quarters of Wendy’s customers prefer to place their orders via drive-thru, according to a May 9 announcement from Google Cloud and the Tech Giant claimed using a chatbot to service these customers will “revolutionize the quick service restaurant industry.”

AI chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT use natural language processing to understand what people are saying, and then use machine learning algorithms to generate a response.

"Generative AI helps companies transform applications and services. @Wendys is at the forefront of applying #generativeAI into their business in ways that help transform the customer, employee, and overall restaurant experience"—@MaribelLopez https://t.co/bS2IQXZdWU
— Google Cloud (@googlecloud) May 9, 2023

In a statement to Wall Street Journal, Wendy’s CEO and president Todd Penegor said the chatbot “will be very conservational,” adding “you won’t know you’re talking to anybody but an employee.”

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian noted, however, there many challenges associated with using chatbots to service drive-thru customers though, and said:

“You may think driving by and speaking into a drive-through is an easy problem for AI, but it’s actually one of the hardest”

The diversity of customers' orders is one challenge that Wendy’s and Google Cloud will have to overcome, as many customers might call menu items by a different name or have special requests. Additionally, the chatbot will also have to filter out any background noise.

To help refine the AI chatbot before it is rolled out to multiple stores, Wendy’s FreshAI will undergo a pilot launch at a Columbus, Ohio, restaurant in June. Customers will still have the option to speak to a human too.

Not everyone is impressed with the announcement though, with some arguing it's the latest way companies are “systematically eradicating jobs” and highlighted teenagers and others who are less skilled looking to gain employment would be the most affected by the change.

@Wendys joining the ever growing list of companies systemically eradicating jobs. Guess high school kids can just suck it for part time jobs to give them a start in the world. Enjoy your AI and bankruptcy. I'm not talking to a computer. #DeathofFastFood pic.twitter.com/BbggeblhOz
— -PAPatriot--- (@PAPatriot14) May 10, 2023

While AI has enormous potential to improve efficiency, increase productivity, and reduce costs in various industries, its unprecedented growth has many worried that it will bring about massive falls in employment as AI is used for tasks previously assigned to humans.

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