Starbucks tried using AI to count syrup bottles — it kept hallucinating the inventory

Starbucks is ending its AI-powered Automated Counting pilot after it repeatedly misread in-store beverage inventory.

The tablet-based tool from NomadGo was meant to track items like syrups and milk across North American stores, but its counts were often inaccurate.

After a nine-month rollout, Starbucks found the system could not reliably identify products on shelves, limiting its usefulness for day-to-day operations.

The decision highlights the limits of AI in retail tasks where accuracy matters more than automation and may push Starbucks toward simpler manual processes.