Sometimes, AI helps you fine-tune weather forecasts or improve the lives of people with disabilities. Other times, well, it loses a fight with a bottle of peppermint syrup. That’s the situation Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol finds himself in after the coffee chain reportedly told staff that it’s scrapping an AI inventory program after only nine months.
Starbucks rolled out the “Automated Counting” software to its North American stores in September 2025. Developed in partnership with NomadGo, the AI-powered tool was supposed to speed up inventory tracking. Employees (likely fearing that they were holding their replacements) would use mobile devices to scan items on shelves.
The idea was simple: Automate the tedious task of counting milks and syrups, increase accuracy, and optimize the supply chain. Welcome to the AI revolution, baby.
A since-deleted September blog post by CTO Deb Hall Lefevre laid on the hype as thick as the whipped cream on a mocha Frappuccino: “With a quick scan using a handheld tablet, partners can instantly see what’s in stock — ensuring cold foam, oat milk, or caramel drizzle are always available,” it read. “Customers can enjoy beverages their way, every time — and partners spend less time in the backroom and more time crafting and connecting.” (“Partners” is Starbucks’ term for its employees.)
Well, things didn’t quite turn out that way. Reuters reports that the tool frequently mislabeled and miscounted items. It was known to mix up similar milk types or skip them altogether.
The video above, embedded in Starbucks’ September blog post, foreshadowed the tool’s struggles. The clip inadvertently showed the system missing a bottle of peppermint syrup as a worker scanned the shelf. (Did Starbucks deploy a half-baked AI video editor, too?)
So, Starbucks “partners” will now go back to the good ol’ days of manually counting inventory. “Beverage components and milk will now be counted the same way you count other inventory categories in your coffeehouse,” an internal company newsletter, viewed by Reuters, said. Apparently, workers won’t miss it much. “Thanks for discontinuing Automatic Counting!” one employee reportedly wrote in response to the change. “The thought behind it was great, but the execution was proving difficult.”
