Starbucks Scraps AI Inventory Tool Across North America After 9 Months of Miscounts

Reuters·medium signal

Starbucks terminated its AI-powered inventory counting tool — which used LIDAR and camera data to scan shelves — after nine months of frequent miscounting and mislabeling items (e.g., confusing similar milk types). CEO Brian Niccol had deployed the tool to fix persistent product shortages. Employees welcomed the change; Starbucks is reverting to manual counts while pursuing daily store replenishment instead.