Technology

3 in 4 diners open to restaurant AI, PAR survey finds

Photo: Adobe Stock (AI generated)

August 24, 2026

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Consumer discomfort with AI in restaurants is rapidly declining, dropping from 41% in 2025 to 27% today, according to a survey from PAR Technology Corp.

The "2026 Industry Report: AI on the Diner's Terms", based on a June survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, indicates that nearly three in four diners are open to AI playing a role in their restaurant experience. Consumers are increasingly willing to accept AI for faster service, greater consistency and personalized offers, provided there is transparency and the option to reach a human worker.

"Consumers are giving operators clear direction — they are open to AI when it makes their experience better," Savneet Singh, CEO of PAR Technology, said in a press release on the findings. "The operators who move now to build that trust will own the guest relationship. The ones who wait will be handing it to someone else. This is not about replacing humans. It is about making sure restaurants are present, relevant, and in control wherever their guests choose to order next."

Key findings from the report include:

48% of consumers are comfortable with AI making operational decisions, such as adjusting labor based on demand or optimizing menus based on inventory.
45% trust AI to suggest personalized offers based on dining history, an increase from 33% last year. Parents with children under 25 showed even higher acceptance at 59%.
62% of respondents would order through a large language model if given the right offer, with millennials (73%) and Gen Z (70%) showing the highest enthusiasm.
43% cite transparency as the most important factor in trusting a restaurant's use of AI, surpassing last year's top concern about AI replacing workers.
47% say AI goes too far if it replaces most human interaction, and 44% agree it goes too far when they cannot easily reach a person.

"Earlier this year, I predicted LLMs would become the new ordering interface," Singh said. "This data is proving it out faster than I expected. Sixty-two percent of surveyed consumers — and climbing — say they would order through an LLM given the right offer. The field is pre-seeded, and the guests are ready. The question is whether operators move fast enough to meet them there and own that relationship before someone else does."

As AI deployment accelerates, the report notes that brands leading with transparency and preserving human touch points will be best positioned to earn consumer trust.

PAR's platform brings together mission‑critical software — point of sale, digital ordering, loyalty, payments, and back‑office systems — along with hardware and data to orchestrate decisions and workflows across systems, locations and guest touch points.