Your Domino’s pizza may soon be delivered by a robot

When we think of AI, most people’s thoughts turn to Sophia, the world’s most expressive robot. However, there are plenty of use cases for artificial intelligence that are much more mundane and closer to home. Take LinkedIn or Gmail predictive text, for example. These are both cases of AI at work in our everyday lives. Doesn’t sound so scary when we put it that way — but what’s the use case for AI when it comes to Domino’s Pizza?

Domino’s Pizza has announced a partnership with SingularityNET

In a media release on 1st May, SingularityNET and Domino’s Pizza announced a collaboration. The company behind many of Sophia’s abilities to see, hear and respond empathetically is launching into the world of fast-food.

Does that mean your pizza will end up being delivered by a robot? Well, not exactly. Not for the time being, at least.

As the examples of predictive text serve to highlight, AI goes way beyond making robots work. SingularityNET is, in fact, a decentralised blockchain-based AI platform that allows developers to build and deploy artificial intelligence services at scale.

That makes it particularly interesting for large companies that suffer from multiple inefficiencies in the supply chain or delivery, such as Domino’s Pizza.

For now, though, the partnership will be limited to the Malaysia & Singapore arm of the fast-food giant, aimed at accelerating the company’s growth in this region.

According to the release, this will allow SingularityNET’s decentralised AI community to “build innovative algorithms” and “solutions” that will “enhance Domino’s operational capabilities” and “delight its rapidly growing customer base in Malaysia and Singapore”.

What exactly will ‘innovative algorithms’ do for Domino’s Pizza?

The details of the partnership are a little fuzzy at the moment. After all, eluding to ‘innovative algorithms’ and ‘delighting customers’ doesn’t exactly explain what the two companies are hoping to achieve.

Reading between the lines, however, it seems that AI can be particularly useful when it comes to automation and the supply chain. By using scalable algorithms, Domino’s will be able to solve many of its most pressing challenges in logistics.

This means that the company may be able to achieve economies at scale by automating part of its delivery operations and even consolidating its operations centres.

Domino’s CEO for the region, Ba U Shan-Ting, enthused “SingularityNET’s AI algorithms and services will allow us to explore these efficiencies at scale”.

SingularityNET’s CEO, Ben Goertzel, praised Domino’s for its commitment to innovation. He said that we were moving into a “new phase of society and economy”, and that all businesses would need to embrace AI of some kind in order to survive and flourish in the new climate.

Specific to this partnership, he remarked:

“We are proud to embark on a future partnership with Domino’s to achieve their ambition of becoming the leader in pizza delivery and customer brand loyalty by 2020”.

A pioneering company where emerging technology is concerned

Many large companies have jumped on the blockchain train in some way or another (just think Walmart or Carrefour). However, Domino’s is the first to test out a blockchain-based AI solution. This gives the company a certain amount of kudos for being pioneering in the space.

Shan-Ting waxed lyrical about the Domino’s constant commitment to innovation (I mean, what other company would combine salted caramel with pizza?). But while using vague words like “mission”, “vision”, “innovation” and “excellence” may come over as a little vapid, the company is expecting plenty of tangible results. These include greater efficiency for customers through automation and the consolidation of various operations centres.

SingularityNET, as part of the partnership, will be delivering AI-centric workshops, and conducting “feasibility studies” to see how to best impact Domino’s business operations. At the same time, Domino’s will widen its ability to access scalable algorithms that can help the company overcome its bottlenecks in the supply chain and logistics.

The partnership marks a key milestone for SingularityNET as part of its quest to bring enterprises to the AI marketplace.

So will you be getting your pizza delivered by a robot?

This is a pilot project starting in Singapore and Malaysia where Domino’s Pizza has over 260 stores. The company will be using AI to speed up delivery, improve customer loyalty, and make cost efficiencies.

So, if it’s successful, this could be one more step toward bringing blockchain adoption to the masses. You can probably even expect that a robot will take your delivery by telephone, or even put your pizza together. Don’t hold your breath that you’ll see Sophia knocking on your door any time soon though.