The world’s first ever AI-powered bar is in London, and the system is making ordering much easier for both customers and staff.

The technology is hoping to answer the problem of pub closures around the United Kingdom.

World’s First AI-Powered Bar

Some people are really just the type who cut in line, and bars are not exempted from encounters with such people. However, customers of a special bar in London can say goodbye to the problem of queue-cutting thanks to the AI-powered facial recognition system that determines which customer should be served next.

The technology that made 5cc Harrild & Sons bar in London the first AI-powered bar in the world came from British AI firm DataSparQ. With the software now on trial at the bar, facial recognition technology will determine who should actually go next, and staff no longer have to ask who should go next, a system that queue cutters tend to exploit.

What’s more, the system also has an automatic age verification that will prompt anyone who looks under 25 to present an ID. This speeds up the ID verification system as bar staff will know that the customer has already been checked.

Bar Queues

The system may actually be quite useful for bars, especially since data shows that Brits spend more than two months of their lives queueing at bars, with three-quarters of them having experienced walking out of bars and pubs because of the long queue. With the system, customers will be served fairly, staff will work more efficiently, and ordering is less intimidating for women and solo drinkers.

What’s more, data revealed the ordering process’s being more efficient resulted in reductions in serving time. This means that if all 48,000 pubs in the UK adopted this system, they would potentially have 78 million more pints poured in a year.

Bar Closure Epidemic

According to the Data SparQ, the system may help address the issue of bar and pub closures in the UK, with an average of 14 pubs closing every week in the UK. So far, DataSparQ is already in talks with drinks companies as well as pub chain owners to use the system in the next 12 months.

The “AI Bar” software costs about £199 ($240) per month, and only requires a display screen, a webcam, and ample internet connection.