Kinney Drugs pulls back AI phone assistant after hundreds of customer complaints
wcax.com
August 10, 2026
1 min read
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52/100
Summary
Kinney Drugs pulls back AI phone assistant after hundreds of customer complaints BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Kinney Drugs is scaling back its AI assistant after customers reported incoherent calls, wrong dosages, and missed prescription notifications. Kinney Drugs first introduced Burt, an AI assistant named after the pharmacy chain’s founder, back in May. The bot’s role was to communicate with patie...
Community Sentiment
Positives
- Despite the backlash, some insiders believe that voice AI can work well with the right domain expertise and implementation — a critical factor that many overlook.
- Engagement with elderly patients through text-based AI has surprisingly yielded great results, proving that AI can add real value in healthcare contexts when properly applied.
- The embedded approach to AI in pharmacy operations is seen as a promising step forward, suggesting that thoughtful integration can enhance customer experience.
Concerns
- Relying on AI for pharmacy phone lines is a disaster waiting to happen — older callers and complex drug names make this a terrible first use case.
- The comparison to past failures like offshoring customer service highlights a significant concern: AI could lead to a repeat of disastrous customer experience if not handled with care.
- The implementation of AI in pharmacies is plagued with egregious errors, like language mismatches, indicating a lack of technical expertise in decision-making processes.