Above the message, ChatGPT added what I figured out was a menu, showing the three most likely things I might have meant by \u201ciced coffee.\u201d Iced Coffee was the first option, victory! But I had to select \u201cCustomize,\u201d then scroll through the pop-up UI and select both the right size and the milk addition, or else when I tapped \u201cAdd to cart\u201d I got just a Grande black iced coffee.<\/p>\n
I should note that this had already taken longer than it takes to open the Starbucks app, tap \u201cOrder,\u201d tap the name of the closest store, tap the plus sign next to the drink I always get, and check out. But I soldiered on: I got the drink I wanted in the cart, and then went to add my wife\u2019s drink to my order. She calls it \u201cthe fruity tea,\u201d which is not a name, but is the kind of fuzzy search ChatGPT ought to handle well! It offered me Iced Green Tea Lemonade, which is a reasonable but wrong guess. I eventually remembered it was the Passion Tango Tea, at which point ChatGPT offered me another enthusiastic description of the tea. Once again, I scrolled up, I customized, and I added to cart.<\/p>\n
A lot of talking, not a lot of easy coffee ordering. Screenshots: David Pierce \/ The Verge<\/p>\n At that moment, I got an ominous pop-up: \u201cThis chat is nearing its limit.\u201d I\u2019m a free-tier ChatGPT user, but I haven\u2019t touched the app in weeks (I\u2019m mostly a Claude guy these days), so hitting the limit this fast was a bit surprising. Also, why is there a limit at all, when I\u2019m trying to do a thing that theoretically makes both ChatGPT and Starbucks a bunch of money? To get things done as quickly as possible, I went to check out. Turns out, ChatGPT has my location wrong, and offered a list of stores half a state away from me. When I went to the map view, where ChatGPT said I could change my location, all I got was an \u201cOops! Something went wrong.\u201d message. And right about then, I got another pop-up: \u201cYou\u2019re out of messages with the most advanced Free model.\u201d It told me it would reset \u2014 in five hours. Until then, I\u2019d be shunted to some other, lesser model.<\/p>\n Any rational person would have given up a while ago, right? This is a straight-up terrible ordering experience, made vastly more complicated by the back-and-forth chat system that conferred exactly zero discernable AI upside. But, like a good journalist, I tried again \u2014 I started over, @-mentioned Starbucks, and told it my order as succinctly as possible. It confirmed my request, and then let me down gently. \u201cI can\u2019t place your order directly or add it to a real cart,\u201d it said, before offering to walk me through how to use the Starbucks app. Evidently, the model I\u2019d been downgraded to didn\u2019t support the more advanced Starbucks features \u2014 or have any idea what I\u2019d just been up to.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t shake the idea that this app \u2014 like so many AI tools \u2014 appears to be designed for people that simply don\u2019t exist. In Starbucks\u2019 own blog post<\/a>, it suggests you might prompt the app with things like \u201cRecommend a drink that matches the vibe of my outfit\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m in the mood for something cozy and nutty.\u201d Is that how anyone actually decides their beverage of choice? At best, these features are silly fun. At worst, they\u2019ll lead to even more people dreaming up ridiculous, 12-ingredient, made-to-be-TikToked drinks that drive baristas batty all day.<\/p>\n The actual dream of AI coffee ordering has been the same for a long time: I want to say \u201corder me coffee,\u201d and my assistant should know exactly what to get me and from where. The tech industry tried this in the era of Google Assistant and Alexa, and they\u2019re trying again in the times of ChatGPT. There\u2019s a chance that truly useful AI agents, like the ones Google is testing with Gemini<\/a>, can go click around for you and get the job done automatically. But chat ain\u2019t it, friends. Coffee ordering, like so many things in life, is not a creative experience designed for conversation. It is a transaction. Ideally, a very short one, because I haven\u2019t had my coffee yet.<\/p>\n Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.David PierceClose David Pierce<\/p>\n Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All by David Pierce<\/a><\/p>\n AIClose<\/p>\n AI<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All AI<\/a><\/p>\n OpenAIClose<\/p>\n OpenAI<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Starbucks-ChatGPT.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776790652_634_DAVID_PIERCE.0.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n