Starbucks AI assistant, powered by Microsoft, helps baristas focus more on coffee and customers
Starbucks' Green Dot Assist AI-powered tool details how to make a specific drink and offers to a show a barista a quick video tutorial. (Screen grab via Starbucks)
AI is coming to your Starbucks. The tech isn't going to make your coffee, but it might make the barista's job easier so they can focus on making your coffee better and faster.
The Seattle-based coffee giant revealed a new generative AI-powered assistant called 'Green Dot Assist' that is designed to help baristas find quicker solutions to tasks that can get in the way of customer service.
CNBC reported that the feature is powered by Microsoft Azure's OpenAI platform.
Using in-store iPads instead of flipping through manuals, Starbucks says its partners can get quick answers related to real-time shift planning, coaching, store performance, standards, troubleshooting and even a refresher on the ingredients for a seasonal beverage.
The tech initiative was announced at Leadership Experience 2025 (LE25) in Las Vegas, where Starbucks is bringing together more than 14,000 of its coffeehouse leaders from across North America.
The goal of the three-day gathering is to facilitate immersive workshops and connect workers, who can hear directly from company leaders, including new CEO Brian Niccol.
Green Dot Assist will pilot in 35 stores, with broader rollout in the company's U.S. and Canadian locations in fiscal year 2026.
Niccol, who was named Starbucks CEO last August, revealed plans in September to help the slumping coffee chain boost its brand and sales, in part by investing in technology 'that enhance the partner and customer experience, improve our supply chain and evolve our app and mobile ordering platform.'
As GeekWire previously reported, it's worth watching how Niccol handles the company's digital ordering system.
Starbucks helped pioneer mobile order-ahead capabilities more than a decade ago. Now about a third of total transactions from Starbucks' U.S. company-operated stores come from its app.
But the app has become somewhat of a sore spot due to inaccurate wait times and the congestion it creates inside stores — both for those trying to pick up their mobile orders, and people ordering at the store itself.
'We're returning to what made us iconic: handcrafted coffee, human connection, and a relentless focus on excellence,' Niccol said in Las Vegas.
Starbucks also announced a next-gen point-of-sale system designed to reduce training time and drink remakes while enhancing workflow. The system features improved accessibility with removed language barriers as well as customer personalization.
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